[39] If it be desired to obtain a perfectly colourless hydrogen flame, it must issue from a platinum nozzle, as the glass end of a gas-conducting tube imparts a yellow tint to the flame, owing to the presence of sodium in the glass.
[40] Let us imagine that a stream of hydrogen passes along a tube, and let us mentally divide this stream into several parts, consecutively passing out from the orifice of the tube. The first part is lighted—that is, brought to a state of incandescence, in which state it combines with the oxygen of the atmosphere. A considerable amount of heat is evolved in the combination. The heat evolved then, so to say, ignites the second part of hydrogen coming from the tube, and, therefore, when once ignited, the hydrogen continues to burn, if there be a continual supply of it, and if the atmosphere in which it burns be unlimited and contains oxygen.
[41] The combustibility of hydrogen may be shown by the direct decomposition of water by sodium. If a pellet of sodium be thrown into a vessel containing water, it floats on the water and evolves hydrogen, which may be lighted. The presence of sodium imparts a yellow tint to the flame. If potassium be taken, the hydrogen bursts into flame spontaneously, because sufficient heat is evolved in the reaction to ignite the hydrogen. The flame is coloured violet by the potassium. If sodium be thrown not on to water, but on to an acid, it will evolve more heat, and the hydrogen will then also burst into flame. These experiments must be carried on with caution, as, sometimes towards the end, a mass of sodium oxide (Note [8]) is produced, and flies about; it is therefore best to cover the vessel in which the experiment is carried on.
[42] This property of spongy platinum is made use of in the so-called hydrogen cigar-lighter. It consists of a glass cylinder or beaker, inside which there is a small lead stand (which is not acted on by sulphuric acid), on which a piece of zinc is laid. This zinc is covered by a bell, which is open at the bottom and furnished with a cock at the top. Sulphuric acid is poured into the space between the bell and the sides of the outer glass cylinder, and will thus compress the gas in the bell. If the cock of the cylinder be opened the gas will escape by it, and will be replaced by the acid, which, coming into contact with the zinc, evolves hydrogen, and it will escape through the cock. If the cock be closed, then the hydrogen evolved will increase the pressure of the gas in the bell, and thus again force the acid into the space between the bell and the walls of the outer cylinder. Thus the action of the acid on the zinc may be stopped or started at will by opening or shutting the cock, and consequently a stream of hydrogen may be always turned on. Now, if a piece of spongy platinum be placed in this stream, the hydrogen will take light, because the spongy platinum becomes hot in condensing the hydrogen and inflames it. The considerable rise in temperature of the platinum depends, among other things, on the fact that the hydrogen condensed in its pores comes into contact with previously absorbed and condensed atmospheric oxygen, with which hydrogen combines with great facility in this form. In this manner the hydrogen cigar-lighter gives a stream of burning hydrogen when the cock is open. In order that it should work regularly it is necessary that the spongy platinum should be quite clean, and it is best enveloped in a thin sheet of platinum foil, which protects it from dust. In any case, after some time it will be necessary to clean the platinum, which may be easily done by boiling it in nitric acid, which does not dissolve the platinum, but clears it of all dirt. This imperfection has given rise to several other forms, in which an electric spark is made to pass before the orifice from which the hydrogen escapes. This is arranged in such a manner that the zinc of a galvanic element is immersed when the cock is turned, or a small coil giving a spark is put into circuit on turning the hydrogen on.
[43] Under conditions similar to those in which hydrogen combines with oxygen it is also capable of combining with chlorine. A mixture of hydrogen and chlorine explodes on the passage of an electric spark through it, or on contact with an incandescent substance, and also in the presence of spongy platinum; but, besides this, the action of light alone is enough to bring about the combination of hydrogen and chlorine. If a mixture of equal volumes of hydrogen and chlorine be exposed to the action of sunlight, complete combination rapidly ensues, accompanied by a report. Hydrogen does not combine directly with carbon, either at the ordinary temperature or by the action of heat and pressure. But if an electric current be passed through carbon electrodes at a short distance from each other (as in the electric light or voltaic arc), so as to form an electric arc in which the particles of carbon are carried from one pole to the other, then, in the intense heat to which the carbon is subjected in this case, it is capable of combining with hydrogen. A gas of peculiar smell called acetylene, C2H2, is thus formed from carbon and hydrogen.
[44] There is another explanation of the facility with which hydrogen reacts in a nascent state. We shall afterwards learn that the molecule of hydrogen contains two atoms, H2, but there are elements the molecules of which only contain one atom—for instance, mercury. Therefore, every reaction of gaseous hydrogen must be accompanied by the disruption of that bond which exists between the atoms forming a molecule. At the moment of evolution, however, it is supposed that free atoms exist, and in this condition, according to the hypothesis, act energetically. This hypothesis is not based upon facts, and the idea that hydrogen is condensed at the moment of its evolution is more natural, and is in accordance with the fact (Note [12]) that compressed hydrogen displaces palladium and silver (Brunner, Beketoff)—that is, acts as at the moment of its liberation.
[44 bis] There is a very intimate and evident relation between the phenomena which take place in the action of spongy platinum and the phenomena of the action in a nascent state. The combination of hydrogen with aldehyde may be taken as an example. Aldehyde is a volatile liquid with an aromatic smell, boiling at 21°, soluble in water, and absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere, and in this absorption forming acetic acid—the substance which is found in ordinary vinegar. If sodium amalgam be thrown into an aqueous solution of aldehyde, the greater part of the hydrogen evolved combines with the aldehyde, forming alcohol—a substance also soluble in water, which forms the principle of all spirituous liquors, boils at 78°, and contains the same amount of oxygen and carbon as aldehyde, but more hydrogen. The composition of aldehyde is C2H4O, that of alcohol C2H6O.
[45] When, for instance, an acid and zinc are added to a salt of silver, the silver is reduced; but this may be explained as a reaction of the zinc, and not of the hydrogen at the moment of its formation. There are, however, examples to which this explanation is entirely inapplicable; thus, for instance, hydrogen, at the moment of its liberation easily takes up oxygen from its compounds with nitrogen if they be in solution, and converts the nitrogen into its hydrogen-compound. Here the nitrogen and hydrogen, so to speak, meet at the moment of their liberation, and in this state combine together.
It is evident from this that the elastic gaseous state of hydrogen fixes the limit of its energy: prevents it from entering into those combinations of which it is capable. In the nascent state we have hydrogen which is not in a gaseous state, and its action is then much more energetic. At the moment of evolution that heat, which would be latent in the gaseous hydrogen, is transmitted to its molecules, and consequently they are in a state of strain, and can hence act on many substances.
[46] Several numerical data and reflections bearing on this matter are enumerated in Notes 7, 9, and 11. It must be observed that the action of iron or zinc on water is reversible. But the reaction CuO + H2 = Cu + H2O is not reversible; the difference between the degrees of affinity is very great in this case, and, therefore, so far as is at present known, no hydrogen is liberated even in the presence of a large excess of water. It is to be further remarked, that under the conditions of the dissociation of water, copper is not oxidised by water, because the oxide of copper is reduced by free hydrogen. If a definite amount of a metal and acid be taken and their reaction be carried on in a closed space, then the evolution of hydrogen will cease, when its tension equals that at which compressed hydrogen displaces the metal. The result depends upon the nature of the metal and the strength of the solution of acid. Tammann and Nernst (1892) found that the metals stand in the following order in respect to this limiting tension of hydrogen:—Na, Mg, Zn, Al, Cd, Fe, Ni.