Here are two photos of my son Ryan's hydrogen generator. He discovered that a mixture of lye and bits of aluminum [usually chopped up aluminum cans] will generate hydrogen gas. In fact, if you're not careful, you can generate enough heat to present a danger. Thus, he always has a cooling bucket of water nearby. The chemical reaction is happening in the Kleen Kanteen , the bottle of water in the middle prevents flame from backing up into the generator, and the "torch" is a piece of aluminum foil twisted around a pin to create a very small opening. The very tiny flame burns hot enough to make steel red hot - probably at least 2000 degrees. AS followers of this blog know, my first love is the life sciences - specifically, natural history, ecology, evolution....but my son's first love is in the physical sciences. To him, the subjects of these two photos are things of beauty. I can understand this, as I was inclined toward physics in high school. Howver, his "laboratory" in our garage, to me, represents a hazardous zone. He does love our cats and dogs and also has a good time accompanying me on flower and bug photography outings, but it is clearly the "Myth Busters" type of stuff that really floats his boat. I wonder if we'll ever meet in the middle. Maybe with his technology skills he'll someday help me make insect videos or time lapse videos of flowers blooming.
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