Am I electrocuting myself are does something else
make my cuts hurt more?

I was rigging up the electrolysis of water classic
tonight. This was after I bought some nice glass vials
I've been eyeing for a while. I probiably found myself
doing this after spending some time earlier trying to
obtain power from a pumpkin. However, I began to think
that simply connecting the voltmeter directly across the
leads might be misleading my voltage and power measurements.
But that's a different project.

While I was trying to stand up the vials to catch the
Oxygen and the Hydrogen I noticed that while the circuit
was on the cuts on my fingers hurt a lot more.

But not when it was off.

Was it just the electricity or was some it other sort of chemical
reaction making the pain worse?

Hydrogen and Oxygen are explosive when mixed in the proper
proportions and ignited. Hence, wetting the electrodes (in
this case zinc plated steel nails) and bringing them together
cause bubbles of Hydrogen and Oxygen to be produced.
Since there are sparks right near where the nails touch you, you
can set off a continuous reaction between the Hydrogen and
the Oxygen, thus making steam.

I could hear the sizzle as an actual steam jet is produced
near the contact points. Pretty cool knowing that the same
reaction going on before me is what launches the shuttle.
Which if you think about it is fairly environmentally friendly given
that mostly just steam is produced.

...
I noted something else.
A substance that looked a dirty yellow was being produced
on the Oxygen plate. Considering this was a galvanized nail
I suspected it was Zinc Oxide. I visited Zinc Oxide on Wikipedia to confirm.
I read that it changes from white to yellow when heated.
So, I have a test I can try to find out if this is in fact Zinc Oxide.
I also noted that heating the compound with carbon would produce
Zinc and Carbon Monoxide. Something I can also test with a CO detector.
It would be cool to see zinc smelted out of a pile of white dust.
I realize I could de-galvanize nails this way, which brings me to
another point. It's often best to use carbon electrodes to prevent
weird metal reactions.

I remember using copper when I was little. It often turned
green.

By the end of it all I had a vial of Hydrogen again.
Ah, memories.