ART. 153 - On the Composition of Water

Summary

During the past year I have continued the work described in a former communication on the relative densities of hydrogen and oxygen, in the hope of being able to prepare lighter hydrogen than was then found possible. To this end various modifications have been made in the generating apparatus. Hydrogen has been prepared from potash in place of acid. In one set of experiments the gas was liberated by aluminium. In this case the generator consisted of a large closed tube sealed to the remainder of the apparatus; and the aluminium was attached to an iron armature so arranged that by means of an external electro-magnet it was possible to lower it into the potash, or to remove it therefrom. The liberated gas passed through tubes containing liquid potash, corrosive sublimate, finely powdered solid potash, and, lastly, a long length of phosphoric anhydride. But the result was disappointing; for the hydrogen proved to be no lighter than that formerly obtained from sulphuric acid.

I have also tried to purify hydrogen yet further by absorption in palladium. In his recent important memoir, “On the Combustion of weighed Quantities of Hydrogen and the Atomic Weight of Oxygen,” Mr Keiser describes experiments from which it appears that palladium will not occlude nitrogen—a very probable impurity in even the most carefully prepared gas. My palladium was placed in a tube sealed, as a lateral attachment, to the middle of that containing the phosphoric anhydride; so that the hydrogen was submitted in a thorough manner to this reagent both before and after absorption by the palladium.