elementcollector1 - 12-5-2012 at 19:59
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Lye-From-Salt-and-Gelat...
Is this even remotely feasible?
I mean, I can point out a few problems with it already. One, any hydro/hypo-chloric acid produced at the one end will eat through the jello like,
well... jello. What do, my fellow conspirators?
If it is feasible, why does it work? How does jello allow the Na/K+ and Cl- ions to pass through it?
Endimion17 - 13-5-2012 at 05:45
mwaahahaaha 
"Granny's gone and so is her box of ashes for making lye."
I think you should be way more concerned with sodium hydroxide eating through it.
What strikes me is the dumb part in the last section of the intro:
"If you want to get all green about it use a solar oven to heat the water for making the saturation solution and use a small solar panel or solar
battery charger for the electrolysis."
Yeah, that won't work well at all.
He uses gelatin for a salt bridge. That's ok for demonstration experiments which last for a short amount of time and just need a decent conductor.
If you continue to build up OH<sup>-</sup> ions, they'll start eating the bridge. The hydroxide solution will get all dirty, but if you
just need a dirty basic solution, go for it.
Jello is gelatin, which has a cage-like structure, similar to a sponge, with water molecules inside the loose chains made of collagen. It can be
viewed as liquid water trapped in a solid shape, because water and ions flow through it with ease.
plante1999 - 13-5-2012 at 06:43
Maybe if you fill a tube with fine powdered salt ans then cast some ''pure'' paraffin wax on it to fill the spaces it will make a good bridge, wax
have been used for corrosive chemicals storage like 95% H2SO4 in the old days.
barley81 - 13-5-2012 at 07:01
Salt in the solid state does not conduct electricity. Even if it did, using wax would insulate the particles from each other. It won't work!
Endimion17 - 13-5-2012 at 08:29
Dry salt tube with parrafin plugs sounds like a decent high voltage insulator.
[Edited on 13-5-2012 by Endimion17]
blogfast25 - 13-5-2012 at 08:33
The very last line of this guide is:
"You might want to really, really, really consider agar or animal hyde glue."
Indeed.
elementcollector1 - 13-5-2012 at 11:43
So... no dice then? I heard there was some sort of ion membrane in a lithium battery (or would filter paper work)?