Note 42 — Chapter II · THE COMPOSITION OF WATER, HYDROGEN

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.