KARPEN PILE

[profitis]

Are you in south africa,I'l come over and help.

[profitis]

Is that pure hydrogen.traces of H2S will fuck things up.

[profitis]

Pomodoro,please bubble that H2 through AgNO3 soln quick and tell me if it goes pitchblack.

[pomodoro]

The gas bubbler is a little too long and touches the bottom of the flask, hence the fit around the neck is not quite tight. I assumed that since the flow of hydrogen was quite high for the graphite, that no way anything would sneak in, after all when nitrogen is used nothing does. But the tiniest amount of oxygen does sneak in, hence the continuous current.  Even the smallest trace gives a current!  This is not all that obvious with silver but graphite loves to attract oxygen somehow.

The overnight silver problem may not be the same because I used a different attachment that just passed hydrogen on top of the solution. Flow was low but I'm not sure if O2 could have snuck in.  The silver didn't look like it had any of the dark sulfide coating. Most of the floaters were white in color.

And the hydrogen is not UHP but industrial. It was going to cost me too much for the UHP. So it might have traces of oxygen.  Even the UHP can sometimes have impurities as I found out years ago.


So the next cell will need to be different. Much,,much smaller,  with hydrogen generated by electrolysis in situ, the oxygen generated elsewhere, and high vacuum silicone grease with ground glass joints used. No permanent melted glass for now as I need to take it apart for further tests.

I dont consider the week a waste, but it shows how many amateur scientists can screw up very, very easily, especially when just a trace of a substance can have a massive impact.

[profitis]

Industrial grade.probably H2S in there.even rubber in contact with electrolyte will leak enough H2S for poisoning especially stoppers.remove the reference electrode I don't trust it either.I've seen Ag2S precipitate from rubber stoppers before.