Yeah, well I was thinking of running a current through water to produce hydrogen gas, harvest it, and try out a little explosion.So.what material should I use for the electrodes? Does it matter? I don‘t have any real electrodes, but I do have paper clips, pencil graphite, iron rods and copper. I do have stainless steel, but this would produce chromium I am pretty sure, and that is dangerous.Basically? Do electrodes only have the effect of changing electrolysis rates? or also their products?
Electrodes are likely to corrode, depending on what you dissolve in the water to make it more conductive. A metal as the negative electrode won't corrode because of the electrochemistry there, but the positive electrode attracts the negative ions and discharges them, so Cl- becomes chlorine gas, very corrosive. Or OH- becomes oxygen, likewise. So use graphite as it won't oxidise at temperatures with water around. Pencil graphite is not very conductive: disassemble a spent battery cell and use its carbon electrode. Copper sheets at the positive terminal can develop very colourful oxidations: quite pretty. This is called anodisation. Try bubbling the hydrogen and oxygen into the same container, such as a one gallon plastic container. Discharge FROM A DISTANCE with a spark plug or a fuse wire. Do not use a match! Do not mess about where static electricity might strike a spark.
