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:

http://physics.about.com/cs/experiments/a/260303_4.htm 

The Kelvin Water Dropper

What You Will Need To Build Your Own

The water dropper was named for its inventor, the Baron Kelvin (1824-1907). A professor at Glasgow University (from 1846), Baron Kelvin also made important contributions to experimental electromagnetism and theoretical thermodynamics. With James Joule, he discovered the Joule-Kelvin effect. His name is also given to the unit of the absolute temperature scale, the kelvin.