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What are the products of this reaction?

By: Kendact [19-February-11 12:55AM]
2 posts
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I have a beaker with 100 ml of saturated solution of water and NaCl. I have one electrode of Al and the other one of Cu. Using a 6 volt battery, I connect the negative lead to the Al and the positive lead to the Cu. I test the voltage and the current across the battery terminals and across the electrodes. The voltage continues to rise along with the current. An orange condensate forms on the bottom of the beaker and bubbles form at the Al electrode. What is the gas and what is the condensate? I think the gas is probably H2 and the condensate is CuOH. I reverse the connections between the electrodes and bubbles form at the Cu electrode. A black condensate forms. I think the black condensate is Al(OH)3. I think the solution now contains ions of Na+, Cl-, OH-, possible condensates of CuOH, Cu(OH)2, Al(OH)3, and H2 gas. I test the acidity of the solution and it is about 14 which makes it very basic. What do you think?

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