Week 1: Electrolysis

Introductory Activity:
Using the electricity generated aboard a submarine, a basic first step to provide oxygen is to
make pure water from sea water is through desalinization. This is done by an evaporator/distiller
or reverse osmosis process. The pure water (H 2O) is then used to create an oxygen supply, using
the electrolysis method. For introduction, show to the students the demo of electrolysis of water
on Youtube, or conducted an electrolysis experiment and answer the following questions.
1. Write a balanced chemical equation for the electrolysis reaction.
2. What happens to the products of electrolysis?
3. Write an equation for sailors breathing-in oxygen; what do they exhale?
Student Activity:
Students were ask to exhale through a straw into a flask containing lime water and observe what
happened by answers the following questions.
1. Write an equation for the lime water reaction with your exhaled air.
2. What explains the change in appearance of the lime water?
Extension Activity:
For more disclosure to students about air quality in submarine, extension activities can be done
by answering the following questions.
1. Are there parts of a submarine (besides the sailors) that may be giving off gases or
impurities (plastics, insulators, paints, air conditioning)?
2. How does cooking food impact the air quality on a submarine?
3. What gases might be present?