Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Stupid way to make carbon monoxide with an gouging rods.

mysteriusbhoice - 13-9-2018 at 22:12

https://youtu.be/sv5bnpJXvyk

This is a reaction between hot carbon plasma and cold water producing Carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

This is a stupid way to produce water gas which is normally produced by passing steam through hot coals.

reaction
H2O + C = CO + H2

DO NOT REPEAT THIS EXPERIMENT
unless you have a fumehood or are stupid enough to do it.

NOTE i ran AC current not DC so it cant really be hydrogen and oxygen

[Edited on 14-9-2018 by mysteriusbhoice]

Ubya - 14-9-2018 at 00:12

if it's stupid why did you do that?

mysteriusbhoice - 14-9-2018 at 03:01

because I wanted to see what would happen if i submerged 2 gouging rods hooked up to my arc welder into water and suddenly as I lifted it burst into flames.

Sigmatropic - 14-9-2018 at 04:36

I guess he just wanted to burst into flames then.

Sulaiman - 14-9-2018 at 05:46

Quote: Originally posted by mysteriusbhoice  

reaction
H2O + C = CO + H2


Could it just be 2.H2O -> O2 + 2.H2 ?

mysteriusbhoice - 14-9-2018 at 05:56

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman  
Quote: Originally posted by mysteriusbhoice  

reaction
H2O + C = CO + H2


Could it just be 2.H2O -> O2 + 2.H2 ?


I ran AC current 50HZ not DC so it cant be that
and if it was hydrogen and oxygen then why didnt it explode violently!!
if it surely had oxygen with it then it wouldve exploded.

alternatively it could be

2H2O = O2 + 2H2

and C + O2 = CO2

therefore only hydrogen comes off and oxygen burns the electrodes
But water and white hot graphite does create carbon monoxide so there could be that too

Sulaiman - 14-9-2018 at 07:18

I guess that with such high voltage and temperature all kinds of ions will be created and inter-react,
any combination of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen is possible.
Which species dominate or persist I do not know,
but it is quite a leap to assume that only carbon monoxide is burning.

mysteriusbhoice - 14-9-2018 at 07:26

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman  
I guess that with such high voltage and temperature all kinds of ions will be created and inter-react,
any combination of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen is possible.
Which species dominate or persist I do not know,
but it is quite a leap to assume that only carbon monoxide is burning.


Its a mix of hydrogen and CO, I didnt exclusively say its pure CO, if you look at the reaction i posted above this.
H2O + C = CO + H2

as you can see there is H2 being produced, also running 34 volts at very high amps, the device used in the video is 2 rewired Microwave Oven Transformers in series under oil for cooling and long duty cycles.

BardFaulknerBrockis - 12-12-2018 at 17:14

If it were not such a waste of resources this would be a great way to produce methanol(via catalyst). I have dreams of methanol but I can never See them through to fruition.

mysteriusbhoice - 12-12-2018 at 21:58

Quote: Originally posted by BardFaulknerBrockis  
If it were not such a waste of resources this would be a great way to produce methanol(via catalyst). I have dreams of methanol but I can never See them through to fruition.

You can produce the same reaction by passing steam through hot coals.
But to set this up at home would be a bit crazy

Jackson - 13-12-2018 at 09:17

Could it be that the reason why it didnt explose violently is because the reaction was like this: 2H2O + 2C -> H2 + 2CO2

When a spark formed in the gas mixture, atmoshperic oxygen reacted with thr hydrogen, but the CO2 displaced the some of the oxygen making the oxygen concentration lower, which would make the reaction less severe/explosive. It would just be the hydrogen combusting under lower oxygen conditions, not CO combusting.