The combination of hydrogen and oxygen on the surface of silica and its relation to the propagation of reaction chains in the gas

Abstract

The combination of hydrogen and oxygen, at temperatures between 400° and 600°C. in vessels of porcelain or silica involves several different processes. At the lower temperatures a surface reaction tends to predominate, which on a silica surface is approximately of the first order. At higher temperatures and higher pressures a chain reaction occurs in the gas phase. At temperatures greater than 450° C. there also exists a lower and an upper limit of pressure below and above which reaction is slow and between which explosion occurs.The transition from slow reaction to explosion is an abrupt one, the limits representing discontinuities of some kind. The upper limit is almost the same in reaction vessels of silica or porcelain and is nearly independent of their dimensions.