Note 24 bis — Chapter IX · COMPOUNDS OF CARBON WITH OXYGEN AND NITROGEN

Besides which L. Mond (1890) showed that the powder of freshly reduced metallic nickel (obtained by heating the oxide to redness in a stream of hydrogen) is able, when heated even to 350°, to completely decompose carbonic oxide into CO2 and carbon, which remains with the nickel and is easily removed from it by heating in a stream of air. Here 2CO = CO2 + C. It should be remarked that heat is evolved in this reaction (Note 25), and therefore that the influence of ‘contact’ may here play a part. Indeed, this reaction must be classed among the most remarkable instances of the influence of contact, especially as metals analogous to Ni (Fe and Co) do not effect this reaction (see Chapter II., Note 17).