Precautions. In order to avoid danger it is absolutely necessary to prove that the hydrogen is free from air before igniting it. This can be done by testing small amounts of the escaping gas. A convenient and safe method of doing this is to fill a test tube with the gas by inverting it over the jet. The hydrogen, on account of its lightness, collects in the tube, displacing the air. After holding it over the jet for a few moments in order that it may be filled with the gas, the tube is gently brought, mouth downward, to the flame of a burner placed not nearer than an arm's length from the jet. If the hydrogen is mixed with air a slight explosion occurs, but if pure it burns quietly in the tube. The operation is repeated until the gas burns quietly, when the tube is quickly brought back over the jet for an instant, whereby the escaping hydrogen is ignited by the flame in the tube.
. Fig. 13
A mixture of hydrogen and oxygen is explosive. That a mixture of hydrogen and air is explosive may be shown safely as follows: A cork through which passes a short glass tube about 1 cm. in diameter is fitted air-tight into the tubule of a bell jar of 2 l. or 3 l. capacity. (A thick glass bottle with bottom removed may be used.) The tube is closed with a small rubber stopper and the bell jar filled with hydrogen, the gas being collected over water. When entirely filled with the gas the jar is removed from the water and supported by blocks of wood in order to leave the bottom of the jar open, as shown in Fig. 13. The stopper is now removed from the tube in the cork, and the hydrogen, which on account of its lightness escapes from the tube, is at once lighted. As the hydrogen escapes, the air flows in at the bottom of the jar and mixes with the remaining portion of the hydrogen, so that a mixture of the two soon forms, and a loud explosion results. The explosion is not dangerous, since the bottom of the jar is open, thus leaving room for the expansion of the hot gas.
Since air is only one fifth oxygen, the remainder being inert gases, it may readily be inferred that a mixture of hydrogen with pure oxygen would be far more explosive than a mixture of hydrogen with air. Such mixtures should not be made except in small quantities and by experienced workers.
Hydrogen does not support combustion. While hydrogen is readily combustible, it is not a supporter of combustion. In other words, substances will not burn in it. This may be shown by bringing a lighted candle supported by a stiff wire into a bottle or cylinder of the pure gas, as shown in Fig. 14. The hydrogen is ignited by the flame of the candle and burns at the mouth of the bottle, where it comes in contact with the oxygen in the air. When the candle is thrust up into the gas, its flame is extinguished on account of the absence of oxygen. If slowly withdrawn, the candle is relighted as it passes through the layer of burning hydrogen.
Fig. 14
