Water to Fuel To water Project

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DeadArby5
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:56 am
Occupation: Student: 8th Grade
Project Question: Water to Fuel To Water
Project Due Date: 26 May 2012
Project Status: I am just starting

Water to Fuel To water Project

Post by DeadArby5 »

This Project uses Phosphate buffer solution which is a water-based salt solution, But If I used water What would happen Would the Water Splitting reaction not happen?
deleted-71709
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Re: Water to Fuel To water Project

Post by deleted-71709 »

The phosphate buffer solution acts as a "catalyst", as the article describes. The purpose of any catalyst is to assist and accelerate reactions. In this case, you could use plain, un-buffered water, but the reaction would be much slower.

However, you could not use distilled water. The experiment relies on the exchange of ions between the two metal strips. Those ions must flow through the water. As distilled water has no free ions, it will not allow any reaction to occur.

Have fun with this experiment. It's a good one.
Ed Neu
Buffalo, MN
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