Electrolysis

I really like to teach my students how to use less reagents (click here to see my precipitation reactions worksheet). Microscale chemistry offers a great way to do so. While doing Teaching Practical Science: Chemistry course from the National STEM Learning Centre, I learnt an easy way to conduct electrolysis using less reagents. The set-up includes using a Petri dish:

Petri dish contains sodium chloride solution and universal indicator

Once the electricity is flowing through the circuit, the changes are easy to observe almost immediately:

The same set-up can be used to conduct electrolysis of copper (II) sulfate solution:

An alternative to the graphite electrodes are ordinary pencils sharpened at both ends. 

Click here to get the worksheet for this experiment.

I wish you great lessons!

Karolina