I used a two quart container for this experiment. I did
this because I needed more physical space inside the cell for both the
magnets and the electrodes. I cut two pieces of stainless (which was slightly
ferrous this time) about 6" x 4" x 3/16" and placed the magnets between
the electrodes. I used 4 magnets and placed one near each corner of the
electrodes, between the two. The fact that the stainless was ferrous made
it easy to position the magnets and to have them stay in place. Since it
was the magnetic effect I wanted to observe and not the electrochemical
reactions I didn't really care that the iron in the electrodes would oxidize.
I left enough room between the magnets and the top of the electrode
so that the magnets would be totally submerged while still allowing enough
electrode to protrude from the solution so that I could hook the leads
from the power source to them.
Once I had the cell set up the way I wanted it, I again
took a voltage reading on the cell and found a voltage comparable to the
one in the previous experiment. That done I measured the no-load voltage
for the power source. Set at 12 volts it was 13.65 volts. With the cell
included but measuring voltage only (no current flowing) it was 14.1 volts.
After taking these readings I removed the multimeter from the circuit
and re-connected the cell. I turned on the power and electrolysis commenced
within the cell immediately. Significant amounts of gas were produced at
both electrodes with the cathode producing approximately twice the amount
as the anode (as would be expected).
The resistance in the cell was low enough (see "VLR Cells" paper) to trip the internal breaker on my power source every few seconds and make observation difficult so I connected several "normal" cells in series with the experimental and by so doing increased the total circuit resistance enough so that it enabled continuous operation of the cells. This made it impossible to record the electrical performance of the experimental cell individually so I went to obtaining strictly visual data at this point.
The first thing that I noticed was that the water/electrolyte solution in the cell was circulating in a manner that was different than I had seen prior to this experiment. In fact, I had never observed the water to be moving at all before. At least other than what might be expected to be caused by the ions moving through the solution and/or by the bubbles of gas rising through the solution.
Now though there was a substantial amount of solution seemingly being "sucked up" between the two electrodes, from the bottom of the cell and then rising between the electrodes and exiting at the top edges of them, along with the bubbles of gas that were being produced. The "flow" would be comparable to that produced by the pump on an aquarium filter. This is quite a bit of water being set into motion and that motion being sustained for as long as the cell is in operation. Gas output of the cell was NOT reduced by whatever energy was being utilized to produce this movement.
The construction/design of the cell was a major factor in allowing me to "catch" this phenommenon and to be able to identify it as being separate from the motion caused by the rising bubbles. The tight fit of the electrodes against the sides of the container, coupled with the "ridge" through the center of the bottom of the container and the slightly flared top edges made for an ideal situation in which the water could be drawn in at the bottom of the electrodes and then ejected around the top edges.
Here is where it first dawned on me that the water molecules
or the ions in the solution or both might actually be being set into motion
by and then "following" the magnetic or electric lines of force produced
by the combination of the permanent magnets and the electromagnetic fields
around and between the electrodes. Commonly known as a Magnetohydrodynamic
effect.