Hydrogen gas

“ The better hydrogen becomes known, therefore, the more interesting and important to us it is found beyond all other elements, oxygen scarce excepted. To all the vital and delightful uses of water, as we have seen, it adds also those of light and heat. For, although scarcely luminous in itself, hydrogen is a principal source of the heat which makes other substances luminous, and is thus a chief condition of illumination. Terrestrial flame is generally hydrogen gas in the act of combustion, colored and made brilliant with white-hot carbon also oxidizing. ”

“ Such decomposition, with the loss of nitrogen, leaves a small portion of free hydrogen, which is the gas that can be drawn from the top of the absorber, ignited and burned. The presence of hydrogen gas in the absorber is not necessarily detrimental to the effectiveness of the system, but as hydrogen does not possess the qualities of absorbing heat in the same way and to the same extent as ammonia, the presence of hydrogen makes the operation of the apparatus somewhat less efficient.—Stationary Engineer. ”

“ It is so; and when all the hydrogen is consumed, the carbon continues to burn without flame. But again, as I mentioned when speaking of the gas-lights, the hydrogen gas produced by the burning of coals is not pure; for, during the combustion, particles of carbon are successively volatilized with the hydrogen, with which they form what is called a hydro-carbonat, which is the principal product of this combustion.
Carbon is a very bad conductor of heat; for 304 this reason, it is employed (in conjunction with other ingredients) for coating furnaces and other chemical apparatus. ”

“ To those who are striving to harness and apply the forces of nature to man’s uses, these [105] experiments are dedicated and bequeathed. In the knowledge that hydrogen gas in its free and pure state is the most powerful force known, I herein propound, theoretically, the practicability of using it as a motive power. The inefficiency of coal, as transformed into steam, and the known high efficiency of hydrogen as an explosive force being recognized, placing it first in the list of potentialities, I suggest the introduction of hydrogen gas into engine cylinders. ”

“ Hydrogen with carbon is a constituent of all combustible vegetable substances, among others, it is also an essential constituent of the gas which is used for lighting our streets and rooms; in the free state it is also a gas, the lightest of all, and burns when ignited with a feebly luminous blue flame. In this combustion—that is, in the chemical combination of hydrogen with oxygen, a very considerable quantity of heat is produced; for a given weight of hydrogen, four times as much heat as in the combustion of the same weight of carbon. ”

“ When the demand for it arises, hydrogen gas can be made as cheaply as water gas itself, and when time is ripe for a fuel gas for use in the house, it is hydrogen and not water gas which will form its basis. ”

“ But carburetted hydrogen having the property of precipitating its carbon in the act of burning, its solid particles become incandescent, and diffuse a vivid light. The more carbon it contains, the more brightly does it burn. This gas exists in two distinct states of combination. In the first, two measures of hydrogen gas are combined with one measure of the vapour of carbon, forming together one measure whose specific gravity is of course the sum of the weights of the constituents, or 0·559 ”

“ The fact is, that the greater part of the carburetted hydrogen gas, capable of affording light and heat, continually escapes up the chimney, during the decomposition of the coal, whilst only [35] a small part is occasionally ignited, and exhibits the phenomena of the flame. ”

“ The potassium, when combined with the oxygen, forms that corrosive substance known as caustic potash, and the heat, disengaged during this process, ignites the hydrogen. Here the mystery ends; and the contradictions are solved; Oxygen and hydrogen when combined, become water; when separated the hydrogen gas burns with a pale, lambent flame. Many of Nature's most delicate deceptions are accounted for by a knowledge of these laws. ”

“ I mean the gas that I have just told you about, which is called hydrogen. In burning, hydrogen produces water again, like the flame of the candle. Indeed, hydrogen is that part of the water, formed by a candle burning, that comes from the wax. All things that have hydrogen in them produce water in burning, and the more there is in them, the more they produce. When pure hydrogen burns, nothing comes from it but water, no smoke or soot at all. ”

“ At the same time that the extreme levity of the hydrogen gas accounts for the great quantity of heat which it holds in combination, and the high temperature requisite to effect its decomposition, and that such is its capacity for heat, that though combined with oxygen and water, it still possesses the property of absorbing a great deal more. ”

“ It is clear that were any texture known which would permit a heat-impulse to pass through it in one direction only, nothing more would be necessary than to place a portion of gas in such a receptacle of this substance, so faced as to permit egress but not entrance of the heat, and the gas thus enclosed, were it hydrogen itself, would very soon become liquid and solid, through spontaneous giving off of its energy, without any manipulation whatever. ”

“ We know that, floating around us, these volatilized bodies exist in some material form, and numerous experiments in chemistry are calculated to convince us, that the most attenuated air is capable, with a slight change of circumstances, of being converted into the condition of solid masses. Hydrogen gas, the lightest, the most ethereal of the chemical elements, dissolves iron and zinc, arsenic, sulphur, and carbon; and from the transparent combinations thus formed, we can with facility separate those ponderous bodies. Such substances must exist in our own atmosphere ”

“ Gibbes to conclude that when hydrogen gas is produced by the affusion of water on red-hot metal, and the metal is at the same time oxydated, a decomposition of fire rather than of water has taken place; that the hot metal has parted with negative electricity, which, uniting with a small proportion of the water, has formed hydrogen gas; that a greater proportion of the water has united with the positive electricity, and entered, as oxygen gas, into combination with the metal. ”

“ When the carbonic acid is absorbed by lime-water, if the gasses have been properly proportioned, no gazeous residue is left, except accidental impurities. Though carburetted hydrogen gas, is sometimes naturally produced in coal-mines, and occasionally mixes with common air, producing dreadful explosions, yet when coal-gas is mixed with common air, it does not explode unless the gas be to the air as 1 to 10 nearly. Such are the leading chemical habitudes of this gazeous product. The varieties of carburetted hydrogen gas all agree in being inflammable ”

“ The other gas, hydrogen, is new to us and is interesting as being the lightest known substance, being even "lighter than a feather."
An important fact about hydrogen is that in burning it gives as much heat as five times its weight of coal. Its flame is blue and almost invisible by daylight, but intensely hot. If fine platinum wire is placed in an ordinary gas flame, it does not melt, but if placed in a flame of burning hydrogen, it melts very quickly. ”

“ It collides with another molecule every twenty-thousandth of an inch of its journey. It is turned from its course 5,000,000,000 times in every second by collisions. If we could stop the molecules of hydrogen gas, and utilise their energy, as we utilise the energy of steam or the energy of the water at Niagara, we should find enough in every gramme of gas (about two-thousandths of a pound) to raise a third of a ton to a height of forty inches. ”

“ Hydrogen is always evolved at the negative pole of the battery and oxygen at the positive pole. The gases can then be collected in different tubes, the hydrogen tube receiving twice as much gas as the oxygen tube; since water consists of two volumes of hydrogen and one volume of oxygen, it follows that the galvanic current decomposes water into its constituents. As chemically pure water has so great a resistance as almost to force us to consider it a non-conductor, it is generally acidulated with sulphuric acid. ”

“ The abnormal behavior of hydrogen gas when it is allowed to expand under reduced pressures made it impossible to liquefy it at higher temperatures; and the condensation of this gas was first achieved by Dewar, of London, on May 10, 1898. ”

“ Why, after Sue gets back with the piece of iron, we will go down and set the ball of the pipe in Katie's fire. When it gets hot, we shall see a smoke coming out of the pipe, which will be composed chiefly of hydrogen gas: we will touch a match to it, and there will be a flame at the end of the pipe until all the hydrogen which was in the coal in the ball of the pipe has united with oxygen. That is one way to make gas on a very small scale. ”

“ There are many ways of making hydrogen, besides out of steam by the hot gun-barrel. I could show it you in a moment by pouring a little sulphuric acid mixed with water into a bottle upon a few zinc or steel filings, and putting a cork in the bottle with a little pipe through it, and setting fire to the gas that would come from the mouth of the pipe. We should find the flame very hot, but having scarcely any brightness. I should like you to see the curious qualities of hydrogen, particularly how light it is, so as to carry things up in the air ”

“ One measure of hydrogen and 5 of atmospheric air, and 2 of hydrogen and 1 of oxygen, are the proportions that explode with the greatest violence. The combination of hydrogen and oxygen, when mixed, is brought about by the heat of a red-hot solid or a flame, by the electric spark, and by the presence of spongy platinum, the black powder of platinum, clean platinum foil, and some other substances. A jet of hydrogen burnt in oxygen gas, or a jet of these gases (mixed) burnt in the air, with proper precautions, produces a most intense heat. Water absorbs about 2% by volume of hydrogen. ”

“ Behavior of Metals with Hydrogen.—From researches carried on conjointly by Messrs. Troost and Hautefeuille, and reported to the French Academy of Sciences, it appears that potassium, sodium, and palladium, combine with hydrogen, while a considerable number of other metals merely dissolve this gas. Iron, nickel, and manganese, offer striking analogies in their behavior with hydrogen at different temperatures. The facility with which they absorb or give off hydrogen gas depends greatly on their physical condition. ”

“ So many valuable substances are now derived from this last, that even if coal should cease to be destructively distilled for gas, the operation would still be largely carried on if only for the tar.
777A jet of hydrogen gas burning in a dark room is all but invisible, yet no gas can give so intense a heat. The lime-light, which no doubt is perfectly familiar to everyone as an illuminant in magic lantern projections, is simply a jet of mixed hydrogen and oxygen gases directed on a piece of lime, which is rendered incandescent by the heat. ”

“ He believes that the gas is formed in much the same manner as water-gas; that the evolution of oxygen and hydrogen is constantly going on in the regions of the earth's interior, where the temperature of dissociation exists; and that when carbureted metals having great affinity for water are present within reach of the dissociated gases, they will be oxidized by the ascending oxygen, while the hydrogen will combine with the carbon to form hydrocarbons. Thus the process of generating the gas is going on all the time, and the prospect for the continuation of the supply is cheerful. ”

“ Emerson Dowson invented an apparatus for manufacturing a gas suitable for power plant, the gas being known as Producer or Poor Gas, the last term referring to its poorness in hydrogen as compared with coal and other gases. While the hydrogen is a desirable ingredient in an explosive charge, it must not form a large proportion, since under compression it renders the mixture in which it takes part dangerously combustible, and liable to spontaneous ignition before the piston has finished the compression stroke. ”

“ Thin plastic covers are placed over the top and bottom of each stack to manifold oxygen to the stack and to keep the foam material from entering areas around the coolant manifolds and oxygen water separator.
OPERATION The basic principle by which the fuel cell operates to produce electrical energy and water, is the controlled oxidation of hydrogen. This is accomplished through the use of the solid electrolyte ion-exchange membrane. On the hydrogen side of the fuel cell, hydrogen gas disassociates on the catalytic electrode to provide hydrogen ions and electrons. ”

“ Hence it has been termed oily carburetted hidrogen, or olifiant gas—it consists of carburetted hydrogen, supersaturated with carbon. The oil generated is heavier than water, whitish, and semi-transparent. By keeping, it becomes yellow and limpid; its smell is highly fragrant and penetrating—its taste somewhat sweet—it is partly soluble in water, imparting to it, its peculiar smell. A portion of this gas always accompanies the common carburetted hidrogen obtained from coal, and those sorts of coal that afford the largest quantity of it are best suited for the production of gas-light. ”