# Somehow I made a battery.



## OMG (Apr 20, 2008)

I have a two cell electrolysis setup where HCl and a bit of H2SO4 make up the anolyte (with a pile of black sand in there), and NaOH is the catholyte.
I run the cell at 6 volts and things proceed, hematite from the anolyte gets dissolved and transferred to the catholyte where it is precipitated.
The wierd thing is when I unplug the power source, current continues to flow.
I used a multimeter to check... When the power is on it reads +6.2 volts, and when the power is off it reads +2.0 volts.
How can this be? Particularly since the current is going the same way whether the power is on or off.
Does it have to do with the difference in ph? (The anolyte is very low, probably <1, and the catholyte should be pretty high with all the NaOH.)
And if the current is going in the same direction that means Cl2 should still be coming off the anode and H2 off the cathode. So if its some galvanic thing, why is the current flowing the same way that it was when the power was on?


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## Anonymous (Apr 20, 2008)

Batteries are charged with the same polarity but higher voltage when charging.


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## Never_Evil (Apr 21, 2008)

The basic idea of how batteries are formed are two dissimilar metals separated by an electrolite. Do you remember the potato battery? When ever you are done with your cell, always remove either your cathode or anode (your choice) and that will help prevent any unwanted reactions.


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## Lino1406 (Apr 23, 2008)

In a same way the mythological Pb
battery was discovered, 200 years
ago - and still has (almost) no replacement


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