Hi,
   A while back I sent a link to a page which described making a water based rectifier (a page on this site: http://home.earthlink.net/~lenyr/index.html ). I guess that these were developed in the early days of radio. The interesting thing was that the electrodes are supposed to glow (fluoresce) a green color.
   I set up the experiment as described on the page and was happy to see that it is indeed true. Using two pieces of aluminum from a pie tin (thicker than aluminum foil) and a sodium tetraborate (borax) electrolyte with distilled water I was able to see the described glow from both electrodes. Pretty cool. Also noticed some heating of the water as in the boiling cell not not enough to be remarkable.
   I have some ideas to test out with this setup and will describe them as I do them. Finding the source of the glow and ways to capitalize on it in H2 production (if any) will be the first. I wired a 60 watt incandescent bulb in series with the cell and once the AlO2 forms on the surface of the electrode the current is so low that said light bulb barely glows. Dimmer than a candle, just a tiny orange glow. 
   If you turn the power off the electrode glow stops instantly then if you turn the switch on the electrode glow immediately resumes.
   Gas is still being released at the electrodes even once the AlO2 coating forms. Not much but it is still happening. As an additional note of interest. I turned the power off for about an hour and then switched it back on. Again the electrodes lit up immediately and the same small amount of gas was being produced at both. the only difference was that now the light bulb did not glow at all. Even in a totally dark room not even the faintest glow could now be seen in the bulb but as I said the electrodes were still lit up and some gas was being produced.
MJ



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