As others have pointed out, the only safe answer is to treat all electrolysis experiments with respect, doing them with adequate ventilation, whether that means under a fume hood or outdoors or the like.
Of course we may break these rules and get away with many things, up until the unfortunate moment when we don't get away with it. Jeff On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 12:30 PM, Alan J Fletcher <a...@well.com> wrote: > At 11:30 AM 10/16/2012, David Roberson wrote: > > I know that I will have sparks and small flames as with the open system so > now I would like to know if there is significant danger of explosion. Is > anyone aware of reports of a relatively low volume open to the air glass > cell exploding and causing injury or damage to the surroundings? Most of > the jar volume will likely be filled with a mix of hydrogen and oxygen > plus room air. I have not calculated the amount of energy contained within > the captured hydrogen since a bad calculation could be dangerous. Please > give me guidance before I reconnect this beast as it now is on standby. > > > This paper looks at various combinations > http://conference.ing.unipi.it/ichs2005/Papers/120001.pdf > > H2-Air -- lower explosion limit is 4.3 mole% H2 > H2-O -- lower explosion limit is 4 mole% H2 > > Can you put in a baffle or something to keep the H and O separate? > Maybe a U-tube would be better than a jar. > >
