[kensclark16]

Okay, I had a nickel which has a layer of nickel over copper. The coin was attached to the anode and the bottle cap which is aluminum was attached to the cathode. For some reason only the cathode released gas which burned an orange flame which I am guessing is hydrogen. I saw no chlorine released at all. There was also this orange precipitate forming at the anode. On drying the precipitate turned a blue/green color. The aluminum was coated in a darkish gray silver metal which I am guessing was the nickel. So since no chlorine was produced did some kind of chloride precipitate at the anode? And why did the orange precipitate turn blue/green? Could you please explain all the reactions going on? I used a saturated solution of sodium chloride and water. I also used a nine volt battery.

[Arkcon]

OK.  To begin to help you help yourself (that's what we do in this forum,) let's start to try to simplify your description.  Try to describe your electrodes chemically -- what metals are they, instead of their description.  If you've reached this point in a chemistry class, you should have had an introduction to red-ox reactions, and writing half-reactions.  So lets see some attempts.

[kensclark16]

Okay, I sent 9 volts through the cathode which is made of aluminum. The anode was made of nickel plated copper. I can see hydrogen bubbles from the cathode but I see barely any bubbles from the anode. There is also a white wispy smoke appearing over the jar. I do not understand what the precipitate is since it starts out as orange but on drying it turns blue. Did a chloride get formed since I used sodium chloride as an electrolyte?

[kensclark16]

I am thinking it might be copper dichloride because it can form when copper comes into contact with chlorine gas. So the chlorine could react with the copper in the solution to form copper dichloride. Also anhydrous copper dichloride is brown and absorbs water and it turns blue in the hydrated form.

[kensclark16]

Any ideas?

[confusedstud]

I'm thinking that the anode will dissolve as nickel is non inert. Other than that I'm not so sure. Maybe once all the nickel is gone then a tiny bit of chlorine comes out but I'm also unsure about that as copper is also non inert. We need you borek!