Advice on making a battery

[lildiesel6075]

How is it going guys,

As every science geek knows, to make a battery get a potato, lemon, or any other fuits and vegetables and put a strip of copper and zinc, and there's your battery

well i looking for something arouind 1.5v and around 30mA. what chemical could produce this voltage and amps. I was wondering do yall have any suggestion on what chemical i can use (like clorox) to make a battery with this voltage and amps... could i use clorox or bleach, or some kind of acid. thanks

[thingmaker3]

Just get a bunch of your friends together and put a bunch of the following in parallel:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/hand_battery.html

If you insist on using bleach instead, try a copper anode and an aluminum cathode.

[lildiesel6075]

Just get a bunch of your friends together and put a bunch of the following in parallel:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/hand_battery.html

If you insist on using bleach instead, try a copper anode and an aluminum cathode

Remeber i dont wont to get liek 30 friends, becuase i need the battery all the time, come on think of somethign else i could do.

i was reading the CLR bottle and it contains 2 acids, if forgot which acid

[Papabravo]

Originally posted by lildiesel6075@Mar 21 2006, 09:16 PM
Remeber i dont wont to get liek 30 friends, becuase i need the battery all the time, come on think of somethign else i could do.

i was reading the CLR bottle and it contains 2 acids, if forgot which acid
Quoted post

The Standard Oxidation Potential for Aluminum is 1.66 Volts
The Standard Oxidation Potential for Tin is 0.14 Volts

The difference is (1.66 - 0.14) or about 1.52 Volts, would be realized in a wet cell with these two electrodes.

Before you try this at home I would suggest consulting with someone who knows what they are doing with respect to chemical reactions concerning any of the acids that are under consideration. Serious injury, blindness, and even your early demise have positive non-zero probabilities when it comes to this kind of stuff.

[thingmaker3]

According to MSDS, "Clorox Bleach" contains Hyporchlorous acid and Sodium hypochlorite (a salt, not an acid). "Clorox II" contains Hydrogen peroxide and Myristamine Oxide. "Ultra Clorox II" contains Alkylbenzene sulfonic acid, Hydrogen peroxide, and Triethanolamine.

[Papabravo]

Originally posted by thingmaker3@Mar 22 2006, 01:53 PM
According to MSDS, "Clorox Bleach" contains Hyporchlorous acid and Sodium hypochlorite (a salt, not an acid). "Clorox II" contains Hydrogen peroxide and Myristamine Oxide. "Ultra Clorox II" contains Alkylbenzene sulfonic acid, Hydrogen peroxide, and Triethanolamine.
Quoted post

Thingmaker3,

That's enough to scare me, and I'm fearless!

ROFL

[thingmaker3]

Indeed! Perhaps we shold give up laundry and just buy new clothing all the time.

Commercial alkaline batteries use potassium hydroxide as electrolyte. How different is this from sodium hydroxide? (Houshold drain cleaners are mostly sodium hydroxide.)

[Papabravo]

Originally posted by thingmaker3@Mar 23 2006, 01:27 PM
Indeed! Perhaps we shold give up laundry and just buy new clothing all the time.

Commercial alkaline batteries use potassium hydroxide as electrolyte. How different is this from sodium hydroxide? (Houshold drain cleaners are mostly sodium hydroxide.)
Quoted post

Sodium(Na) and Potassium(K) are both "metals" from column 1 of the periodic table. NaOH and KOH are both reactive and nasty and you don't want to put your lips on them. I think that the sodium hydroxide is more reactive than the potassium hydroxide. It seems like it is related to atomic number since I seem to remeber that Lithium Hydroxide is nastier than both of them.

[lildiesel6075]

Originally posted by thingmaker3@Mar 23 2006, 12:27 PM
Indeed! Perhaps we shold give up laundry and just buy new clothing all the time.

Commercial alkaline batteries use potassium hydroxide as electrolyte. How different is this from sodium hydroxide? (Houshold drain cleaners are mostly sodium hydroxide.)
Quoted post



where can i find potassium hydroxide, w/o opening a battery

[thingmaker3]

Potassium hydroxide will literally take the peel off a potato. Be extremely careful with it.

MSDS Sheet (http://www.physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/PO/potassium_hydroxide.html)

[lildiesel6075]

Originally posted by thingmaker3@Mar 23 2006, 11:46 PM
Potassium hydroxide will literally take the peel off a potato. Be extremely careful with it.

[URL=http://www.physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/PO/potassium_hydroxide.html]MSDS Sheet[/URL
Quoted post


Will it harm me it i get it on my skin, will it bleach my skin, will it liek burn it, and tear the flesh off it it, becuase if it does i not gettin potassium hydroxide

[n9352527]

Originally posted by lildiesel6075@Mar 24 2006, 11:20 PM
Will it harm me it i get it on my skin, will it bleach my skin, will it liek burn it, and tear the flesh off it it, becuase if it does i not gettin potassium hydroxide
Quoted post


I will quote one of your post in another thread in this forum (http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/index.php?showtopic=3625&st=0&p=15466&#entry15466)... "battery acid over time is not dangerous, its life threating as a squirel pissing on your lawn. lol.

Well, since it is potassium hydroxide that is inside an alkaline battery, and you've already said that it is no more dangerous than squirrel piss, there's no point asking here, is there my genius friend?

Just get the potassium hydroxide, it would not harm you, just like squirrel piss without the smell... and you might do the world a great favour :P

[thingmaker3]

I edited my previous post to enable the link to an MSDS for KOH. The MSDS outlines the dangers.

[lildiesel6075]

but where can i get the potassium hydroxide, and do they use that in a real battery, and what two types of conductive metals do battiers use

[thingmaker3]

Originally posted by lildiesel6075+Mar 24 2006, 11:38 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lildiesel6075 @ Mar 24 2006, 11:38 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'>but where can i get the potassium hydroxide, Quoted post
[/b]
Chemical supply houses. You have to be 18 to buy from most of them.

<!--QuoteBegin-lildiesel6075@Mar 24 2006, 11:38 PM
and do they use that in a real battery, and what two types of conductive metals do battiers use
Quoted post
[/quote]

These two questions have already been answered in this thread. If you can't pay attention to detail, I very strongly suggest you completely avoid dangerous things - including chemicals and electricity.

[mistahcal]

1.Commercial alkaline batteries use potassium hydroxide as electrolyte. How different is this from sodium hydroxide? (Houshold drain cleaners are mostly sodium hydroxide.)

2.where can i find potassium hydroxide, w/o opening a battery

I know that people in the line cleaning business...or sanitation of restaurant items use powdered or liquid Potassium hydroxide products to sanitize with because bleach is too caustic on parts and on people. So potassium hydroxide is not as caustic as sodium hydroxide. Look at any beer line cleaning solutions and they have potassium hydroxide in them. Unfortunatly, just like bleach they are probably at 5% or 10% solutions though. I dont know if you need pure potassium hydroxide or not...but at least i filled you in.