The goal of the experiment was to use a fuel cell to power a car using only water as an energy source. The apparatus included an electrolyzer, fuel cell, and water tanks connected by tubes. Hydrogen gas was produced by the electrolyzer and collected in the water tank. This gas was then used by the fuel cell, along with oxygen, to produce energy and power the car. It took two attempts for the car to roll successfully due to issues with the fuel cell. When done correctly, the car rolled for over a minute. In the future, fuel cell vehicles may become more popular than electric cars due to water being more abundant than fossil fuels and reducing pollution. However, concerns remain over costs and explosion risks associated with

1. Lexi Helminski
Fuel Cell Car
The goal of this experiment was to create enough energy usinga fuel cell,to power a car. Duringthe lab,
we set up an apparatus thatwas ableto use water in order to make energy to power a car,by usinga fuel cell.The
hydrogen sideof the electrolyzer and of the fuel cell were were on the same sideas each other and the same for
the oxygen side.The electrolyzer was connected to the water tanks on both sides butthe fuel cell was only
connected on the hydrogen side.There was a cap placed on the water tank sidethat wasn’t connected to the fuel
cell.Once itwas all connected properly, water was added to both fuel tanks and the cap on the oxygen sidewas
opened to releasethe water into the bottom and then was put back on. For the hydrogen side,the cap from the
fuel cell was removed in order to allowthe water in that water tank to go down. Once the water in both tanks was
in the bottom, the electrolyzer was hooked up to the cords,red to red and black to black,from the cord plugged
into the wall.Makingsurethe clamp was on that connected the hydrogen sidewater tank to the fuel cell,we
started to create energy. Then we waited until the water tank on the hydrogen sidewas filled up as far to the top
as possible.Clampingboth tubes that connected the hydrogen sideto the electrolyzer, we then removed the
oxygen sideof the apparatus and electrolyzer completely. With both tubes clamped off, we moved the hydrogen
water tank to the car alongwith the fuel cell.Then connect the fuel cell with the red and black cords thatwere
connected to the car accordingly.Oncethe clamp connected from the water tank to the fuel cell was unclamped,
then we released the stopper on the oxygen side,opened the cap on the hydrogen sideto l et a littlein and then
reclosed itand turn the car on. If everything was done properly throughout the experiment, the car rolled.Ittook
our group two times becausethe firsttime there was a problem insideof our fuel cell.Oncewe switched, we had
another problem being that the cap and the tube were reversed on the hydrogen sideof the fuel cell.We
corrected it by quickly switching,butit did causesome of our hydrogen gas to be lost.Even so, our car rolled 35
feet and 2 inches for a time of one minute and five seconds.
Figure 1:

2. Figure 2:
The picture above shows how the apparatus should behooked up with the fuel cell actually on the car already. The
cords are put into the electrolyzer which is then plugged into the wall. The clamp is in the tube from the tank on
the hydrogen side to the fuel cell and water is starting to rise while it is creating energy.
Figure 3:
The clamp should be on the entire time the fuel cell is creating energy.
In the future, fuel cell-powered vehicles arepredicted to become more popular than electric vehicles.This
could happen becauseusingelectricity is a way to usenatural resources that we can’t renew and water is way
more abundantthan fossil fuels.Also,this would lower the amount of pollution becausethe cars would be running
basically off of water, or from the sun. Hydrogen has no end to the amount of availability also so itwould be easily
accessible.The problem is though, people worry about the costof the vehiclebeing too high and what would
happen if for some reason the hydrogen tank would come into contactwith oxygen. There would be a huge
explosion so there is a risk thatitwould take in order to use the abundantnatural resourceof hydrogen that we
have.