Turning Gas Into Water

Water is an essential ingredient for life, with about 60% of the human body made of water. Just before Half Term, our Fifth year Chemists investigated an explosive way to make this important substance, in one of Miss Sam Holyman's IGCSE Chemistry classes.

A flaming taper held to hydrogen balloons provided enough energy for the hydrogen in the balloon to react with the oxygen in the air to make pure water. Miss Holyman said: "This is an example of a chemical change which hooks the class and allows discussion about types of chemical reaction and writing equations. With the school's 'Bring Your Own Device' policy, it allows pupils to capture amazing footage of experiments which will hopefully help them learn, in this case, key Chemistry concepts."

An edit of the original 'slo-mo' video by Shaan Rayat of Luke Wyman making the pure water is posted on our Facebook page. 

(NB Do not attempt this experiment at home, since it needs supervised, controlled laboratory conditions.)