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Voila!!……… We now have 4 kitchen ladles assembled as in pt 1 of this article. Lets go make some gas Do this bit in a well ventilated area or outdoors.

Get a 2.5 litre plastic coke bottle, pour out the coke and mix with good Panamanian rum with plenty of ice. Save this for later Now hack off the top part of the bottle with a knife or scissors so you have a container. Or you could use a plastic bucket. Drop your ladle assemby into the container. Handles sticking out of the top!!

Fill the container to just cover the plates with water. Tap water is ok for experimenting. You will be amazed at how much muck it contains and sediments out during electrolysis. For a proper cell always use distilled water.

Now grab some baking soda from the larder, or drain cleaner from under the sink ( if using drain cleaner check the label to make sure it’s 99% sodium hydroxide). Please don’t use salt as it gives off chlorine gas which is not healthy. Be careful handling this mix as it is unfriendly to skin and clothing. Read the warning labels.

Mix a couple of teaspoons of the above into a quart of water in a seperate plastic container. Be careful as heat is given off and always add powder to water, not the other way around.

Next we need power. For my testing I used an old laptop power supply that gives 4.5 amps. Any 6 -12 volt power supply or battery charger that gives out 4 - 6 amps will work though. If you have nothing else available, run leads from your car battery.

Attach your power source to the handles making sure they don’t touch. You should see tiny bubbles appearing from the gap between the handles coming out of the water. This is due to the impurities in the tap water. If you were using distilled water there would be no reaction.

Now add some of the water with baking soda/drain cleaner, just pour it into the container/bucket a bit at a time, mix it in and watch. Don’t overdo it as it reduces the resistance of the cell and increases the amps. This is where a battery charger is the best power supply as it will have a meter built into it. For a simple cell of this size power should be kept down to under 6 amps. The photos here show the gas production using just 3 amps.

The gas bubbles you can see in the photo are a mix of Hydrogen and Oxygen. The foaming is due to using tap water plus some contamination from the glue on the electricians tape. Be aware that this gas is highly explosive which is why this part should be done outdoors in an open top container. Hydrogen is 4 times lighter than air so the gas disperses easily as the bubbles burst.

The electricians tape is not suitable for long term use as the liquid attacks the glue and breaks it down. It will usually last for a day or so and is cheap enough for experimenting. For a real cell always use heat shrink tubing for insulation. A poor man’s heat shrink can be cut from plastic coke bottles of a suitable size. Cut tubular sections from the bottle and use gentle heat to shrink it into place.

Disclaimer: This whole article is about an experiment done by me. Nothing more is implied. If you choose to copy the experiment or make use of any of the ideas contained in this article, you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. Electricity and water can be a dangerous combination, and the HHO/Hydroxy gas produced is HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE. You are responsible for your own safety and that of others nearby.