In grade 12 chemistry we completed our unit on Electrochemistry with a pair of lab activities allowing us to see the power of electricity to create pure substances: we made oxygen and hydrogen gas from water and we made pure lead from a sample containing lead ions.
This process is critical to the purification of things like Aluminum whose ore resists purification through the addition of heat alone. The addition of electrical energy is needed to reduce the Aluminum to its pure form. Solar Aluminium uses both hear and electricity to do this at their refinery here in Sohar. So far this year I have been unsuccessful in arranging a field visit to the refinery which is a pity.
Students will have their topic test next week. I look forward to seeing all they have learned.
Here you can see us waiting for the lead bromide to melt into an electrically conducting molten liquid.
Here is some of the lead we made
The Bromine vapors are hard to see.
Here is water being hydrolyzed into pure oxygen and hydrogen.
Here Zyrelle is working out at which electrode oxygen and hydrogen are produced.