Hydrogen Fuel Cell Activities:

The Thames and Kosmos kit is my favorite of the fuel cell car kits. While it comes with a wonderful full color book of guided activities, the exercises are designed more for individual exploration than for classroom labs. The following activities have been modified to better fit classroom environments.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Tutorial:

I am grateful to Robert Becker at Kirkwood High School for his invaluable assistance in putting these labs together. Mr. Becker has also put together a wonderful interactive Powerpoint tutorial on how hydrogen fuel cells work.

Click here to download the tutorial

YouTube Video: Powering the fuel cell car with biohydrogen

This video from a lab in Australia shows the potential of biohydrogen from the eukaryotic algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Green Hydrogen Tutorial:

Dr. Teresa Thiel at the University of Missouri - St. Louis has put together a Powerpoint tutorial illustrating how cyanobacteria produce hydrogen and how this process might be used to produce hydrogen in a renewable manner in the future.

Click here to download the tutorial.

Click here to download a series of calculations on the area required to produce hydrogen for vehicles using cyanobacteria.

Fuel Cell Car Labs: Teacher Instructions and Hints

Click here to download the .pdf

Fuel Cell Car Lab: Making Hydrogen and Powering the Car

This lab gets students using the fuel cell to make hydrogen and oxygen, and then instructs them in how to use the hydrogen to power the fuel cell car. This lab can be incorporated into chemistry units involving stoichiometry, gas laws, redox reactions, catylists, and energy conversions. For a physics class, it can fit into any unit involving energy or electricity. Biology and environmental science classes can incorporate this lab into discussions of alternative energy.

Note that the lab has been designed as an indoor activity using artifical light to power the solar panels (to make the hydrogen). But this lab could also be done on a nice sunny day outside.

Click here to download pdf file of the lab

Click here to download word file of the lab

Fuel Cell Car Lab: Qualitative Gas Identification

This lab has students use the fuel cell to make hydrogen and oxygen and then test the gases to figure out which gas is which. This lab works well with the simple intro lab above where students make the gases to power the car. This lab is more appropriate for chemistry classes covering topics such as stoichiometry, gas laws, redox reactions, catylists, and energy conversions. It also is a good example of how chemical reactions can be used to determine the identity of an element.

Click here to download pdf file of the lab

Click here to download word file of the lab

Fuel Cell Car Lab: Fuel Efficiency

This lab builds on skills from the first lab where students run the car. In this lab, students will calulate fuel efficiency, average speed, and practice unit conversions.

Click here to download pdf file of the lab

Click here to download word file of the lab

Fuel Cell Car Lab: Power Measurement

This lab converts the fuel cell car into a fuel cell crane. The students then can take measurements to calculate the power of the crane.

Click here to download pdf file of the lab

Click here to download word file of the lab