quantumtangles
- Dec 19, 2012
- 153
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2012
- Messages
- 153
After discovering that the resistivity of distilled water is enormous (about 2 megaohms) but that adding NaCl (salt) reduces the resistivity to a mere 2 ohms...I decided to try mixing various compounds together to check their photochemistry (if any) and electrical properties. Somehow the idea that a boundary layer in gelatinous water (jelly) might be interesting took root so I tested the idea.
Mixed NaCl, TiO2 (titanium dioxide) and strawberry jelly together in a bid to make a solar cell/battery.
Put the mixture in the fridge to set for a couple of days.
No photochemistry evident at all which was perhaps predictable.
So I put copper and aluminium electrodes on opposing sides of vessels containing the gel mixture.
With an uncalibrated handheld multimeter, a potential difference appeared between the copper and aluminium electrodes (0.5 volts per cell). There was no linear relationship in terms of voltage increase in series, just slight increase in voltage (I used glass jars prone to Leyden capacitive effects...curiosity demanded fast answers over accuracy).
But when I used plain old fashioned salt water instead of my fancy TiO2 NaCl gel mixture, I got 1.1v per cell in terms of potential difference between the copper and aluminium electrodes. In other words, the gel I made was less effective as an electrolyte than ordinary salt water.
Photos attached.
Mixed NaCl, TiO2 (titanium dioxide) and strawberry jelly together in a bid to make a solar cell/battery.
Put the mixture in the fridge to set for a couple of days.
No photochemistry evident at all which was perhaps predictable.
So I put copper and aluminium electrodes on opposing sides of vessels containing the gel mixture.
With an uncalibrated handheld multimeter, a potential difference appeared between the copper and aluminium electrodes (0.5 volts per cell). There was no linear relationship in terms of voltage increase in series, just slight increase in voltage (I used glass jars prone to Leyden capacitive effects...curiosity demanded fast answers over accuracy).
But when I used plain old fashioned salt water instead of my fancy TiO2 NaCl gel mixture, I got 1.1v per cell in terms of potential difference between the copper and aluminium electrodes. In other words, the gel I made was less effective as an electrolyte than ordinary salt water.
Photos attached.
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