Bouffard, Chapin B. Grade 8, Contra Costa County
Plug into Water: Generating Electricity through Electrokinetics Project Abstract
Advisor: Mr. Brian Swanson
School: Holy Rosary School, Antioch
CALIFORNIA STATE SCIENCE FAIR
2004 PROJECT SUMMARY
Ap2/04
Name(s) Project Number
Project Title
Abstract
Summary Statement
Help Received
Chapin B. Bouffard - Plug into Water: Generating Electricity through Electrokinetics
J0705
Objectives/Goals
The hypothesis of this project was if different types of salts were added to water, then there will be an
increase in the efficiency of generating electricity using the Kelvin Water Dropper.
Methods/Materials
500g of magnesium sulfate was added to 12.0L distilled water to make the magnesium solution. Also,
500g of sodium chloride was also added to 12.0L distilled water to make up the sodium solution. When
the tests were run, the water tank had to have the same amount of pressure for each trial in order to get
efficient results. Three trials were run for each solution with the following results:
Results
Average Number of Discharges in the allotted time
Distilled Water: 68.33 Discharges
Tap Water: 65.33 Discharges
Sodium Chloride: 62.33 Discharges
Magnesium Sulfate: 63.00 Discharges
From these results, sodium chloride or NaCl was the least efficient in generating electricity. Magnesium
sulfate or MgSO(4) was next then came tap water. Distilled water was the most efficient in producing
electricity the fastest.
Conclusions/Discussion
The hypothesis was not proven by this experiment. The distilled water is pure and has naturally occurring
positive hydrogen ions (H^+) and negative hydroxide ions (OH^-) which allowed the Kelvin Water
Dropper to function properly. When dissolved in water, salts spilt and create positive and negative ions,
Na^+ and Cl^- for sodium chloride and Mg^(2+) and SO(4)^(2-) for magnesium sulfate. However, rather
than increase the number of ions in the water, they may have mixed in with other elements such as the
copper in the wire or the metal in the can to form new compounds reducing the number of free ions in the
water.
In this project, an attempt was made to increase the efficiency of the Kelvin Water Dropper by mixing salt
solutions to increase the number of free ions available to generate electricity faster.
My father taught me how to use the power tools to build the Water Dropper, check over my report, and
encourage me when things weren't going well.