Active Hydrogen by Electrolysis

Abstract

WENDT and Landauer (Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., March, 1922, p. 513) failed to get any evidence for the presence of active hydrogen, generated by the action of an acid on a metal, or by the electrolysis of a solution of KOH. Similar results were also obtained by Y. Venkataramaiah (Proc. Sci. Assoc. Maharaja's College, Vizianagram, July 1921, p. 2). We have repeated the experiments, and find that hydrogen is actually activated when a conducting solution is electrolysed. We electrolysed a solution of dilute sulphuric acid, employing a platinum tube with a large number of pin-holes bored in it, and using a current varying from 3 to 15 amperes. While the electrolysis was going on, compressed nitrogen was bubbled through the solution, through the platinum electrode, to see if any ammonia were formed, as Wendt and Landauer found that active hydrogen combines with nitrogen to form ammonia. After a run of nearly twelve hours, the presence of ammonia was tested in the resulting solution. The result was positive.