Oxygen Machine

The crazy hacker in me decided to build an oxygen machine. The general principle is simple. Direct current electricity splits water into oxygen and hydrogen. Perfecting the method took a lot of trial and error. This ended up being like a science project. Adult Supervision Required! There are 120 volts here.

To see the real oxygen production, watch the video. Pictures don't do it justice.

Water

Baking soda

Wire

Extension cord

Full Wave Rectifier ($6 on Amazon)

Warning: We are dealing with 120 volts. Do not touch the wires or stick your hand in the water when this is plugged in!!!!!!!!!

Wire:

Cut the female end off the extension cord, strip the wires and attach to the two screws with the squiggly AC symbols. The rectifier converts AC from the wall plug to DC which is what will split the water. Connect the loose wires to the DC side.

You can put the wires in the water and you will get a little bit of oxygen. Do these two things to get WAY more.

- With power off, stir baking soda in the water to increase its conductivity.

- Strip a lot of wire and wind it into a coil to increase surface area and give oxygen more places to jump off.

I got a ton of hydrogen and oxygen, but the copper wire oxidized quickly and slowed the oxygen production. I switched to stainless steel screws to solve this problem. You only need them on the oxygen (plus) side.

I used 3 inch PVC pipes to keep the oxygen and hydrogen bubbles separate. I drilled holes in the sides and stuck in 1/2 inch plastic tubing, and then taped the PVC pipes shut. This allowed me to breath oxygen from the tube.

My normal SPO2 level is 95%. After breathing this oxygen, I got it up to 98%. It actually went up to 99% at one point, but I did not get a picture. I suspect that if you already have a good SP02 stat, its hard to raise it by much. If I started at 80, I think it would have gone up much more. BUT, I am glad I was not at 80, because that would mean I would be pretty sick.

You can't produce hydrogen and not ignite it, can you??? Boom :-) Well, more of a Poof, but still fun.