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Hi everyone,
My electrodes are pretty bad at the moment, anyway, was starting to do the hard task with the steel wool etc when a new teacher suggested I soak them in nitric acid and rinse really well.
Has anyone done this before does it work or is not worth the time?
It would be great not to have to do all that scrubbing.
And does it take off copper plating.
Will experiment on some old ones and compare to replys.
Trish.

Hi trish,
what type of electrodes are they? Nitric will take off Cu coating.
I still find steel wool the best. I do it after each use and then is not such a hard task.
Lada

Nitric Acid with Copper will give you an unpleasant surprise if I remember correctly. I think it is nitrous oxide that is produced. Not nice..................
Maree

well I tried it though must admit didn't leave them in for more than 5min. Didn't do anything to the copper coating, the rusted ones cleaned up a little but not perfect.
Will have to torture the fingers with steel wool.
Thanks.
Any other ideas will be great to hear!
Trish.

I use conc Nitric in the fume cupboard. I have either a little beaker of it, or sometimes a dropper, and a BIG beaker of water to rinse. You can dip electrodes in the acid, then lift out and rinse, then repeat. The fume cupboard deals with the yukky Nitrous dioxide gas. It's actually really good for cleaning those little wire coils on calorimeters too. I use a dropper on them, and let the conc acid fizz off the copper. I keep dipping the coils in water,so that I don't dissolve the coil entirely. With patience you can have a nice shiny nichrome coil at the end, ready to go again.

Everyone has a draw full of Rusty old electrodes .
The teachers complain every time they use them .

Here's an easy way to clean them which doesn't require much elbow grease .

Sprinkle about 1/8 teaspoon of Sodium Carbonate (washing soda) into a beaker of water .

Connect the Negative to the electrode you want cleaned. Then place a piece of old iron or steal in the beaker and connect it to Positive . I actually use two pieces of iron and place the electrode between them so it does both sides at once
Leave them in there for about 1/2 hour .
The beaker will look really scungy due to all the Rust that's being removed ......but that's OK
I usually do 3-4 before changing the solution
When you remove the electrode it will look all black .Give it a scrub under the tap with a scourer and thoroughly dry .
It works well for other Electrodes as well but be careful when scrubbing the lead ones to wear gloves .
Teachers are very happy and say experiments work as they should

Thanks, Richard.

Thanks J ....Haa you have to be the exception , IIRC your draw of electrodes are pretty good

Only because I had a clean out not long ago and bought some shiny new ones!
I have the old grungy, bent and dodgy ones stored away for various metal experiments. They come in handy sometimes.

Thankyou very much Bigmac for finally sharing. Gave this a try and worked fantastic.
Just greatful after 8 years I can stop sandpapering them.
Cheers Trish

I've got some Cu electrodes that were left in a beaker of water with Pb electrodes over the break. I've cleaned them up pretty well with carborundum paper but they could really do with more, especially around the bolts. I know I read on here about an easier way to do it but I can't find that again. The bolts really need it and carborundum paper isn't going to work. Thanks!

There are some very good tips in this thread, Nat, good luck

Labbie wrote: ↑28 Jan 2021, 11:58 There are some very good tips in this thread, Nat, good luck

Thanks for that

You are most wwelcome