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Registered Member #99
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:10PM
Location: florida, usa
Posts: 637
Hello all, im back from a very long hiatus. Calculus has been killer (Im terrible at math) but made it to calc 2...
Anyways, I caught word of an experiment done with Gallium metal and Aluminum metal that produces hydrogen gas. Any thoughts on this?Is it as simple as putting some gallium metal onto an Aluminum heatsink and throwing into some water?
Registered Member #690
Joined: Tue May 08 2007, 03:47AM
Location: New Jersey, USA
Posts: 616
This is a common experiment done with gallium (not so common). A drop of liquid gallium, it has a very low melting point, is dripped onto aluminum foil. Gallium forms alloys very well, and eats through the AL foil in seconds. What you are left with is a glob of gallium with aluminum dissolved in it. In this state, Aluminum is far more reactive than normal (dissolved things usually are), and if water is dripped on to the mass you will get a sodium-esque reaction, forming aluminum hydroxide, hydrogen gas, and water. The gallium does not react.
Don't get too carried away if you have a chance to do this. Gallium is pretty expensive.
It's explained better here, see the bottom of the page.
Registered Member #99
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:10PM
Location: florida, usa
Posts: 637
Shaun wrote ...
This is a common experiment done with gallium (not so common). A drop of liquid gallium, it has a very low melting point, is dripped onto aluminum foil. Gallium forms alloys very well, and eats through the AL foil in seconds. What you are left with is a glob of gallium with aluminum dissolved in it. In this state, Aluminum is far more reactive than normal (dissolved things usually are), and if water is dripped on to the mass you will get a sodium-esque reaction, forming aluminum hydroxide, hydrogen gas, and water. The gallium does not react.
Don't get too carried away if you have a chance to do this. Gallium is pretty expensive.
It's explained better here, see the bottom of the page.
So it does sound pretty simple...I can get 10g of gallium for about 23$. Good deal?About how much H2 gas is produced?How would the volume of gas relate to say, throwing Al foil into some Hydrochloric Acid?
Registered Member #33
Joined: Sat Feb 04 2006, 01:31PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 971
I'm not too sure about this, but I'd think that the amount of hydrogen produced should be approximately equal for a given amount of aluminium.
This seems like a bad and expensive way of making hydrogen to me. Unless hydrocloric acid and lye are unreasonably expensive where you live, I don't see how this way has any advantage. There are very many good ways of generating hydrogen, and this is not one of them. The gallium could propably be recovered with some effort, but considering the effort and the lost gallium, it would be a very expensive way of getting hydrogen.
Registered Member #690
Joined: Tue May 08 2007, 03:47AM
Location: New Jersey, USA
Posts: 616
That's true. I mean, theoretically, if you set aside a few grams of gallium specifically for use in the H2 generator, you could just continue to add and react more aluminum, provided you are willing to remove the Al(OH)3 after each use, because the gallium is essentially a catalyst. I dont know how you could go about this, because even though gallium could be made liquid and the Al(OH)3 would be solid, something tells me gallium wont go through a piece of filter paper.
If it is just the H2 you're after, try these:
Al foil and drano (NaOH solution)
Al foil and Muriatic Acid- this one's best for balloon filling
Electrolysis of NaCl solution (or any other salt, as long as you have a graphite anode) *this one is very slow
Registered Member #99
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:10PM
Location: florida, usa
Posts: 637
My main interest in this as opposed to HCL + Al. was that HCL is dangerous whereas Gallium is not. How hard would the separation of Al. Hydroxide from the Gallium be?I may get some Gallium and give it a try, unless this is just going to be too much of a pain to do.
Registered Member #690
Joined: Tue May 08 2007, 03:47AM
Location: New Jersey, USA
Posts: 616
Well, given that Al(OH)3 is a solid and Gallium can be heated to a liquid, I would say that maybe a simple filter would do it. Gallium, even when liquid, will probably have way too much surface tension to go thru the filter (mercury sure does). You would also probably lose some gallium as it is absorbed in the filter.
Al(OH)3 wouldn't be in solution, so a centrifuge would do a great job separating them. You could spin it for a minute or two, then pour off the gallium. Keep in mind the container will need to be inverted, because gallium is denser than aluminum hydroxide. Most people don't have access to one of these, but just throwing it out there...
I don't what exactly you want out of this reaction, but again if its just the H2, I would say screw the expensive gallium and just go with the HCl+Al. So what if its a little dangerous, you don't even need a high concentration. The HCl you buy is around 12 molar (33%), so just dilute it 5-10 times. 1 or 2 molar will work fine, trust me, and if any gets on you, just wash it off, no big deal. Every Home Depot/Lowes has it, and it's DIRT CHEAP (as opposed to gallium).
This is exactly how my friends and I used to make H2 balloons (7~10 years ago). You can tie them to a bus stop pole with a bogus birthday party sign and people try to pop them with lit cigarettes. It's a miracle we didn't end up in prison, with the crazy shit we did...
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Gallium + Aluminum = hydrogen Gas
