Electrolysis of Water Experiment For Kids

This is a science fair project for kids in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th & 7th grades. Our lesson for today will be to carry out an Electrolysis of Water Experiment. It is a very fascinating process that will definitely catch your attention. Electrolysis is simply the process where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen with the aid of a Direct Current. The major aim of this research will be to find out which of the electrolyte does have the highest amount of current possible. That is which electrolyte can effectively conduct electricity. Just follow the tutorials carefully and you will be able to conduct your own electrolysis of water experiment.

The Needed Materials for this Experiment

You need some quantity of water from tap
You will need battery (9 volts)
Distilled water
A plastic container (a small one)
Get some test tubes (2 will be okay for this process)
Some dish washing detergent
Thumb tacks (they should be silver colored and two in number)
Get a stop watch to time yourself
Some quantities of lemon
Some table salt
And also some baking soda

Here are the Procedures

Get the plastic container and also the thumb tacks. Have the thumb tack well placed under the container. Have both spaced. The distance should be the same distance that is between the terminal points of the battery.

You will need to have the thumb tacks placed on the battery’s terminals. Your battery has to be balanced so that you can get the needed result. If it isn’t then it may lose contact at some point in time. So if you know that it is not balanced, it is important that you support it with something such as a book.

Now have the container filled with the distilled water that you have brought in the list mentioned above. Make sure that the tacks are well balanced before trying to go to the next stage. Once you have done this, the major question is whether the distilled water will be able to conduct current. You will have to try it yourself.

Now apply your baking soda. You will need to have two test tubes held just above the gas that has been formed. You will notice that one of the test tubes posses lots of gas than the other test tube.

Your Results!

What you will find out is that the water that is distilled won’t conduct current while the one that isn’t will have a small current in it. Facilitation of electrolysis will be more favorable with the solution that has baking soda as compared against the solution with table salt.