Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am doing my research for the Water to Fuel to Water project. Some suggested variations on the experiment are to use different metals to act as the catalyst, such as iron and manganese. Do these need to be nitrate compounds too (like the cobalt nitrate)? Also, do you think this experiment will work with cobalt chloride, which is safer and easier to purchase than cobalt nitrate? Thank you for some help.

Hello mjd,

I don't know whether cobalt chloride would substitute for cobalt nitrate in this application. I would have to know more about the reactions in which it participates. However, a Google search for "cobalt nitrate buy online" turns up a few places you can buy cobalt nitrate in a solution. That should work as well as the powdered form except that you will of course have to add enough solution to get the same total amount of cobalt nitrate.

One source is http://www.labsafety.com/cobalt-nitrate ... CID=9PP001.

If you choose to experiment with using cobalt chloride, I recommend that you try the cobalt nitrate first so you can know what to expect in the already-tried situation.

Good luck, WW

Thank you. I might compare the cobalt nitrate to other compounds in my experiment. What do you think about the iron or manganese? Do they also need to be nitrate compounds?

Yes, I would recommend that you use the nitrate compounds. If you change the metal (cobalt to manganese) and change the other half of the compound (nitrate to chloride), then you won't know which of the two alterations is responsible for any different observations you make.