| The Electrolysis of water in Hydrogen Hybrid Cars | | | | Without a lot of extra energy, electrolysis of pure |
| happens when an electric current passes through | | | | water happens very slowly, if at all. This is |
| the water causing the water (H2O) to break | | | | because water won't self-ionize, (breakdown), |
| down into its two basic elements, oxygen (O2) | | | | much if left alone. |
| and hydrogen gas (H2). It's interesting to note | | | | Seawater is about a million times more conductive |
| that Industrial applications don't use this method of | | | | to electricity than pure water because of all the |
| hydrogen production much since they can do it | | | | electrolytes in it like salt. Many electrolytic cells |
| more affordably by getting it out of fossil fuels. | | | | also may lack these needed electro-catalysts. |
| The way this works in Hydrogen Hybrid Cars is | | | | Electrolysis in Hydrogen Hybrid Cars is far more |
| by taking an electrical power source and | | | | efficient with the addition of some of these |
| connecting it to two electrodes, or plates, (or | | | | electrolytes such as salt or an acid or a base. |
| multiples of two) usually made out of some kind | | | | The history of electrolysis dates all the way back |
| of stable metal like aluminum or stainless steel, | | | | to 1789 when Jan Rudolph Deiman and Adriaan |
| then putting them into the water. If this cell is | | | | Paets van Troostwijk used an electrostatic |
| made correctly then Hydrogen will form on the | | | | machine to make electricity and discharged it into |
| cathode (metal plate that's negatively charged), | | | | gold electrodes placed in a Leyden jar full of |
| and oxygen will form on the anode (metal plate | | | | water. Then, in 1800, Alessandro Volta invented |
| that's positively charged). Since there's two | | | | the voltaic pile, and soon after William Nicholson |
| hydrogen molecules to every one oxygen, | | | | and Anthony Carlisle used that for the first |
| molecule in water the amount of hydrogen | | | | electrolysis of water. Eventually, in 1869, |
| produced is twice that of oxygen and both are in | | | | Zénobe Gramme invented the Gramme |
| proportion to the electrical charge that runs | | | | machine that became a cheap way to produce |
| through the water. | | | | hydrogen through the electrolysis of water. |
| Using this process, Electrolysis, for pure water | | | | Next, in The Science Behind Hydrogen Hybrid |
| uses a lot more energy, which is called | | | | Cars - The Equations of Electrolysis, we'll look at |
| over-potential, to cross the activation barriers. | | | | the scientific details. |