Pre-trials were conducted from October 8th-12th. Our trials consisted of a electrolytic cell being placed into an airtight container full of 0.6 M salt water (Na Cl). The cell was either an aluminum, copper, or steel cell. The top to the whole apparatus had two bolts which connected a negative and positive charged current to the cell and also had a gas tube to let out the hydrogen and oxygen gas being produced. A trial was run when both negative and positive charged current was being run into both of the bolts and into the cell. This produced gases that were being released through the tube. To measure the gas we inverted a graduated cylinder filled with water into a tub that was also filled with water. The tube ran into the inverted graduated cylinder and as the trial ran, gas would displace the water inside the graduated cylinder giving us a volume. We ran the trial for a minute and this gave us the rate of gas produced which was milliliters per minute.

A lot of successes came from pre-trials. We solidified an experimental design that would output reasonable data and engineered an apparatus to output gas consistently and easily enough for us to collect the gas volume. Our original idea before was to have a inverted container above the cell in open water and measure displacement that way but that method was too unreliable. This made us do a bit more research on gas collection to lead us to our method for pre-trials above. Some frustrations with our trials were the time it took to conduct one. It takes a long time to re-fill both the graduated cylinder and salt water solution every trial. Another frustration was the rusting of the metals after a day of leaving them to dry. This made the water mucky with metal rust the next time the trial was run and may have an effect on gas production.

Some improvements to be made for this trial is the time it takes can possibly be shortened. If more materials are presented to us we could make another apparatus for gas collection and this would basically double the amount of trials we can do. Another improvement is to figure out rust prevention on the metals so it won't affect the upcoming trials.