what are the things in a fuel cell that are connected to electricity called and do they have to be gold?
85759
You are thinking of an electrolytic cell, not a fuel cell.\n\nA fuel cell works in the opposite way, taking Hydrogen and Oxygen gas and producing electricity and water.\nAn electrolytic cell takes electricity and splits water in to Hydrogen and Oxygen.\n\nThe electrodes in an electrolyitc cell can be any number of things, pretty much anything that will conduct electricty would work.  However, somethings work much better than others.  Platinum and gold are very inert metals and resist corrosion very well (unlike iron/steel for instance).  Carbon/graphite is a very popular and cheap electrode material in electroltic cells, but they eventually wear out.\n\nIn fuel cells, more specifically PEM fuel cells, platinum us used as a catalyst on a porous carbon electrode which is then connected to a Proten Exchange membrane which allows the passage of H+ ions but forces the electrons around through an electric circuit.  The Platinum is used on the electrodes because it acts as a catalyst to strip the Hydrogen atoms of their electrons from the Hydrogen gas molecules.
457371
Fuels cells will allow us to creat energy without using fossil fuels and the waste it creates while processing these fuels. By combining oxygen and hydrogen effecitively, energy is created, with virtually no waste. Unlike fossil fuels, there is no limit to the the oxygen and hydrogen that surrounds us. The end result will be cleaner fuel without shortage of supplies and the cost of this will be more affordable to all. Fuel cells are currently being used and tested in space travel by NASA engineers. Fuel cells are the future! A bright one at that!
428841
A fuel cell is neither a voltaic or an electrolytic cell. The ref. defines a voltaic cell as generating electrical energy from expendable reactants and based on a spontaneous electrochemical reaction. It may be rechargeable or not. Electrolytic cells are defined as based on an electrically forced electrochemical reaction. In what seems to be a technicality, fuel cells are not classified as voltaic since they operate on a continuous flow of reactants.
107743
By definition, a metal conducts electricity.
340627
The atomic bonds in sugar are very tight and do not allow for (measurable) ionization, which is what helps water conduct electricity.  Salt (NaCl) is a powerful ionization agent - the Cl atom "steals" Na's outer electron, forming a Na+ ion, which attracts new electrons introduced into the water.  We call that a conductor!
763006
correct. At the anode, electrons flow out of the system.
560909
Not really.  It's the movement of electrons, so they're different things, but without electrons, I don't think there would be electricity.  But if the same electrons are just sitting around, that's not electricity either.\n\nIt's like asking what's the mass of 55mph?  It doesn't really work like that.  Your car might be able to go 55mph but it has the same mass at 55mph as it does when it's not moving.
969279
You must be talking about Potassium Chloride solution and not Potassium Chloride in molten form. So it would contain K+, Cl-, H+, OH- ions, and once electricity is passed through, K+ and H+ migrate to the cathode. Hydrogen being lower in the electrochemical series get discharged first as Hydrogen gas, (2H+ + 2e- ----> H2) and both Cl- and OH- ions migrate to anode but because of concentration effect, Cl- loses electrons and get discharged as Cl2 gas. (2Cl- - 2e- ---> Cl2) Thus K+ and OH- ions are left behind. These form Potassium Hydroxide and all group I hydroxides are alkali hence the resulting solution is alkaline.
406711
The Hydrogen atom is a donor/acceptor for the electron, it's kinda like a battery, or a hydroelectric energy plant. Imagine the electron is water it wants to get somewhere, and it turns a wheel (ATP Snythase) to create ATP to get there. That is a "big picture" the details you'll have to look up.
809942
Here is an idea.\nCompare power supplies by weight, volume and power density using various batteries.\n\nThere are many batteries on the market now, so it might be very educational for you and anyone looking at your project.\n\nConsider using the following batteries:\nLead acid battery\nLithium-ion battery\nLithium ion polymer battery\nNickel-cadmium battery\nNickel metal hydride battery\nMolten salt battery\nSilver-oxide battery\nWater-activated batteries used in radiosondes\n\nYou could compare different AA batteries of different types and costs.\n\nA good starting point for references on batteries is on Wikipedia:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batteries\n\nYou might even be able to get a small prototype fuel cell if you ask to work with a battery manufacturer, a research company, or someone like NASA.\n\nYou should start thinking of what kind of a hypothesis you could write to kick of the experiment.  Hint: Don't worry if your experiment fails and you fail to prove your hypothesis. Sometimes the best experiments are failures!\n\nHope this helps!
479909
Electrolysis is the process that would produce hydrogen gas from water by sends electric currents through water, breaking its bonds and thus separating the two hydrogen atoms from the oxygen.
230939
probably you mean ELECTRICITY.\noil and petroleum could be used to produce electricity. There is such a thing as electrical energy.
153000
http://www.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell.htm\n\nhttp://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid537.php\n\nhttp://www.wisconsinpublicservice.com/news/cells/work.asp\n\nhttp://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/basics.htm
519301
Electrolyte solution is a solution conducting electricity, any Salt dissociated completely to its ions will be a good electrolyte .Potassium itself is a metal and metals conduction electricity (not electrolyte).potassium chloride KCl is a salt its solution is an electrolyte,it dissociated to K+ ions and Cl- ions.
596009
Your question confuses me.  An electrode is ofetn called the "rod".  There are different types:  6010, 7018, Low-hydrogen are the most common.  Then there are tungsten electrodes.  This site lists the types of rods.  http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/weldrod.html\n\n"give you the classification him/herself"  you mean get certified?  getting certified has to be done in person by taking a test
67716
I know that one thing they're using them for is car engines, although that's still in it's early phase.  Please to note, though, you left out the fact that extracting hydrogen from it's chemical friends is, as of yet, not energy efficient.  This is the main downfall of hydrogen fuel cells.  Currently, though, photoenzymes are being developed to solve this problem.  Until then, though, fuel cells are not a good alternative energy source.
435707
gold as its conductivity is high