Hydrogen ion

“ The specific chemical actions peculiar to acids are therefore to be attributed to the hydrogen-ion just as the actions common to all chlorides are to be regarded as those of the free chlorine-ions. In like manner, the reactions characteristic of bases in solution are to be attributed to the negatively charged hydroxyl-ions (OH–) , which result from the dissociation of this class of bodies.
A solution has an acid reaction when it contains an excess of hydrogen-ions, and a basic reaction when it contains an excess of hydroxyl-ions. ”

“ Further, if ions show different degrees of mobility (p. 53) , one would expect the more mobile or faster moving one to diffuse more rapidly than a less mobile ion. Such a relation should hold for the ions in a solution of hydrochloric acid, the hydrogen-ion, according to the calculations of Kohlrausch94 and the observation of Lodge,95 moving at a rate about five times as great as that of the chloride-ion, at 18°. ”

“ For the ordinary purposes of analysis, requiring the precipitation of say one milligram of any ion from 100 c.c. solution (one-tenth per cent, if one gram of substance is used for analysis) , a concentration of hydrogen-ion of 0.1 to 0.3 gram-ion per liter forms a good basis for work.421 The presence of this concentration of hydrogen-ion, irrespective of the possible presence of weak organic or inorganic acids, may be readily insured by a simple test with an appropriate indicator. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But if the sulphate ions get tied up 31with the lead of the plate there will be too many hydrogen ions left in the solution. Now what are the hydrogen ions to do? They are going to get as far away from each other as they can, for they are nothing but protons; and protons don’t like to associate. They only stayed around in the first place because there was always plenty of sulphate ions with whom they liked to play.
When the hydrogen ions try to get away from each other they go to the other plate of the battery, and there they will get some electrons, if they have to steal in their turn. ”

“ The hydrogen ions get the electrons which they need, but they get something more. They get some of the oxygen away from the plate and so form molecules of water. You remember that water molecules are made of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. Meanwhile, the lead atoms, which have lost their oxygen companions, combine with some of the sulphate ions which are in that neighborhood. During the mix-up electrons are carried away from the plate and that leaves it positive. ”

“ This combination takes place because the union of oxygen ions with hydrogen ions to form water evolves more heat and exhausts more potential energy than the combination of oxygen with oxygen and hydrogen with hydrogen ions in equivalent quantity. The energy set free by the union of the O and H is sufficient to continue the dissociation of further gaseous molecules so the action is explosive and is propagated throughout the mass. ”

“ As it possesses so great affinity with caloric as only to exist in the state of gas, it is consequently impossible to procure it in the concrete or liquid state, independent of combination.
To procure hydrogen, or rather hydrogen gas, we have only to subject water to the action of a substance with which oxygen has greater affinity than it has to hydrogen; by this means the hydrogen is set free, and, by uniting with caloric, assumes the form of hydrogen gas. ”

“ But, on the other hand, if a few drops of acid be placed in the vessel with the platinum, bubbles of hydrogen appear, and a current flows, zinc dissolving at the anode, and hydrogen being liberated at the cathode. In order that positively electrified ions may enter a solution, an equivalent amount of other positive ions must be removed or negative ions be added, and, for the process to occur spontaneously, the possible action at the two electrodes must involve a decrease in the total available energy of the system. ”

“ The sodium bichromate, introduced to cause the hydrogen to unite with oxygen, is called an oxidizing agent or even a depolarizing agent, and hydrogen collecting [257] upon the negative plate is said to polarize the cell.
Hydrogen may be made to collect upon the carbon or negative plate until the electric current reverses its direction. The hydrogen is said to be more - than the zinc. If we connect the zinc and carbon rods with the wires bringing an electric current from the dynamo we may make either one positive as we choose, according to which is connected with the positive wire. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ Hydrogen is the lightest of all the gases, and unquestionably took its place on the outer limits of the atmosphere. There it was brought into contact with oxygen by the commotion of the elements, and converted into steam as fast as its lowering temperature allowed of the combination. As we might expect from the respective positions of the gases, all the hydrogen which fell to the portion of the earth in the making up of its constituents was transformed into water-vapor. Hydrogen is found in no other combination that cannot be traced directly or indirectly to the decomposition of water. ”

“ The same analogies apply to phosphorus and carbon. His conclusion was mainly derived from the fact, that hydrogen is produced from sulphur and phosphorus in such quantities by Voltaic electricity, that he thinks it cannot well be considered as an accidental 313 ingredient in them: the presence of oxygen, he contends, may be inferred from the circumstance that, when potassium is made to act upon these bodies, the sulphurets and phosphurets so formed evolve by the action of an acid less hydrogen, in the form of compound inflammable gas, than the same quantity of potassium in an uncombined state. ”

“ Effects of Polarization. The hydrogen bubbles weaken the current in at least two ways. In the first place, hydrogen is not a conductor of electricity; so it holds the current back, as any other resistance would.
Secondly, acid acts upon hydrogen as it would upon another metal. When the copper plate becomes well covered with hydrogen, the acid cannot touch it; so we really have a hydrogen plate in the cell. Hydrogen acts very much like zinc in the acid; we say that it is more electro-positive than copper. ”

“ Hydrogen does not spontaneously enter into reaction with any of the elements, although it has a powerful affinity for several of them. Thus, when hydrogen and oxygen are mixed nothing occurs, but if a lighted splint is introduced a violent explosion ensues, water being produced. Similarly chlorine and hydrogen are without action upon each other in the dark, but if the mixture is exposed to a bright light, or if heated by the passage of an electric spark, the gases are at once combined with explosive violence, forming hydrochloric acid. ”

“ Of course one could not live in an atmosphere of the gas, since oxygen is essential to respiration.
Chemical properties. At ordinary temperatures hydrogen is not an active element. A mixture of hydrogen and chlorine, however, will combine with explosive violence at ordinary temperature if exposed to the sunlight. The union can be brought about also by heating. The product formed in either case is hydrochloric acid. Under suitable conditions hydrogen combines with nitrogen to form ammonia, and with sulphur to form the foul-smelling gas, hydrogen sulphide. ”

“ Her smile was encouraging.
“He said—and I quote”—Mike’s voice assumed a gloomy, but stilted tone—“normal hydrogen gas consists of diatomic [188] molecules. The nuclear, or proton, spin of these atoms—ah—that is, of the two atoms that compose the molecule—may be oriented in the same direction or in opposite directions.”
He held a finger in the air as if to make a deep philosophical point. “If,” he said pontifically, “they are oriented in the same direction, we refer to the substance as orthohydrogen. If they are oriented in opposite directions, it is parahydrogen. ”

“ Hydrogen is lighter than other elements and its atoms more mobile; it subjects itself more frequently and easily to reactions; but it is not it alone which reacts, it is even less liable to attack than other elements. It participates in exceedingly diverse reactions, not indeed because the hydrogen itself varies, but because one atom of it puts itself forward, another is hidden, one is united with carbon, another feebly held by sulphur, one stands or moves in the neighbourhood of oxygen, another is joined to a hydrocarbon. ”

“ Even bulkier, though lighter, is the constituent hydrogen. Every man's body contains sufficient of this lightest of all substances to inflate a balloon that would lift himself, balloon, and tackle. In the ten-stone-ten man, for instance, the bulk of hydrogen is over 2,400 cubic feet—equal to the cubic space of a room ten feet high and 151⁄2 feet square, and the weight of it is a trifle short of 131⁄2 lbs.
Of that inexplicable gas, nitrogen, there is about half an ounce to each pound of body weight, or, approximately, 41⁄2 lbs. ”

“ Can water be decomposed into its constituents (oxygen and hydrogen) with any considerable rapidity, and in large quantities, by electricity? A. Yes; providing a large magneto-electric machine be used. 2. What is the best and cheapest method of generating hydrogen in large quantities? A. The action of iron or zinc scraps on diluted oil of vitriol is among the best. A considerable volume of pure hydrogen may also be obtained with facility by passing superheated steam through a large iron tube filled with scrap iron heated to bright redness. ”

“ Thus it appears that every molecule of free hydrogen which happened to be present in an atmosphere like ours, would have an unstable connection with the earth, for wherever in the vicissitudes of things it happened to reach the very uppermost strata it would be liable to escape altogether. In the course of countless ages it would thus come to pass that the particles of hydrogen would all effect their departure, and thus the fact that there is at present no free hydrogen in the air over our heads may be accounted for. ”

“ His object was twofold: to refute the hypothesis which assumed hydrogen as an element of potassium, and to ascertain the nature of the matter existing in the amalgam of ammonia, or the supposed metallic basis of the volatile alkali: a question intimately connected with the whole of the arrangements of chemistry. As to the former point, it is unnecessary to enter into farther discussion; and with regard to the latter, it is quite impossible to convey an adequate idea of the extent of the enquiry: there does not exist in the annals of chemistry a more striking example of experimental industry. ”

“ From this we are bound to conclude that the hydrogen is in the first instance evolved in the form of free atoms, and since the velocity of the reaction H + H = H2 at ordinary temperatures, though doubtless very great, is not practically instantaneous, the freshly generated hydrogen will contain a remnant of free atoms, which are able to react both more actively and more rapidly. ”

“ It is worthy of being examined, whether hydrogen in its concrete state, uncombined with [Pg 113] caloric, be susceptible of combination with sulphur, phosphorus, and the metals. There is nothing that we know of, which, a priori, should render these combinations impossible; for combustible bodies being in general susceptible of combination with each other, there is no evident reason for hydrogen being an exception to the rule: However, no direct experiment as yet establishes either the possibility or impossibility of this union. ”

“ Hydrogen, besides being contained in water, is also contained in many other substances, [18] and may be obtained from them. As examples of this, it may be mentioned (1) that a mixture of formate of sodium, CHNaO2, and caustic soda, NaHO, when heated to redness, forms sodium carbonate, Na2CO3, and hydrogen, H2; [19] (2) that a number of organic substances are decomposed at a red heat, forming hydrogen, among other gases, and thus it is that hydrogen is contained in ordinary coal gas.
Charcoal itself liberates hydrogen from steam at a high temperature ”