Question | Answer |
What is a fuel cell? | a device that converts a fuel into electricity directly |
What kinds of fuel can a fuel cell convert into electricity | hydrogen, alcohol, gasoline, or methane |
Beside cars, where are hydrogen fuel cells use? | in spacecraft and other high-tech applications. |
Why would spacecrafts and other high-tech applications use fuel cell? | because fuel cell can make clean, efficient power source. |
What does the coil wire represent? | electrodes |
How do we operate a fuel cell? | we need to cause bubbles of hydrogen to cling to one electrode, and bubbles of oxygen to cling to the other |
What happens when battery is clip to the batter connector? | causes the water at the electrodes to split into hydrogen and oxygen. |
What is electrolysis | a process that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. |
What happens when the battery is remove? | instead of putting electricity into the cell to split water, hydrogen and oxygen combine to make water again, and produce electricity. |
What 2 events are going on in the hydrogen fuel cell? | the electrolysis of the water, and the recombining of the gasses to produce electricity. |
What is happening to the electrons of the electrode connected to the negative side of the battey? | electrons are being pushed by the battery. Four of the electrons in the electrode combine with four water molecules. |
What happens when 4 of the electrons combine with 4 water molecules? | the four water molecules each give up a hydrogen atom, to form 2 molecules of hydrogen (H2), leaving 4 negatively charged ions of OH- |
What happens to the hydrogen gas? | they bubble up from the electrodes and the negatively charged OH migrate away from the negatively charged electrode |
What is happening to the electrode that is connected to the positive side of the battery? | pulls electrons from the water molecules. The water molecules splits into positively charged hydrogen atoms (single protons), and oxygen molecules. |
What happens to the oxygen molecules | they bubble up, and the proton migrate away from the positively charged electrodes. |
What happens to the protons? | they combine with OH- ions from the negative electrode, and form water molecules again |