Question

What are facts about a science fair project called splitting up water?

Answer 1

Key concepts

Water

Chemistry

Electricity

Molecules

Introduction

You use it every day and cannot survive without it—no it is not the Internet, but water! It is one of the most essential compounds in the world and has become an increasingly important issue everywhere. You probably have heard that in many places droughts or water pollution limits clean drinking water supplies, and those supplies keep shrinking. When considering this, have you ever wondered why we do not just make our own water? What water is actually made of? In this science activity you will use energy in the form of electricity to split water into its individual components; so gather all the materials and get ready to find out what they are—and separate them yourself!

Background

To find out what water is made of, it helps to look at its chemical formula, which is H2O. This basically tells us that the water molecule is composed of two elements: hydrogen and oxygen or, more precisely, two hydrogen atoms (H2) and one oxygen atom (O). Hydrogen and oxygen are gases at room temperature. So, does this mean that we can just combine both gases and then we get water? It is not quite as simple as that. What is missing in the equation is the energy component of the chemical reaction. Making water from its elements produces a large amount of energy. Chemical reactions that produce energy are also called exothermic reactions. In the case of hydrogen and oxygen the released energy is so high that it is almost impossible to control, and most of the time it leads to an explosion. Luckily, this reaction does not occur spontaneously and only happens when you ignite the gas mixture with a lighter.