Open AccessCritical potentials of hydrogen in the presence of catalytic nickel and copper
Publication year - 1926
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series a, containing papers of a mathematical and physical character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9150
pISSN - 0950-1207
DOI - 10.1098/rspa.1926.0027
Subject(s) - nickel , catalysis , hydrogen , copper , electrometer , electron , ionization , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , materials science , atomic physics , metallurgy , ion , physics , organic chemistry , optics , quantum mechanics
A recent paper by A. W. Gauger opens the possibility of an interesting and novel method for gaining information on the mechanism of hydrogenation catalysis by nickel and other metals. Gauger bombarded with electrons a target of catalytic nickel in the presence of a low pressure of hydrogen, and observed the critical electron velocities at which the occurrence of characteristic radiation could be detected by the photo-electric current which it produced by falling on a collecting plate connected to an electrometer. Gauger reported a number of critical potentials, several of which he associated with the first members of the Lyman series and the ionisation of atomic hydrogen respectively. The results were interpreted as indicating the presence of atomic hydrogen in the system comprising hydrogen and a nickel catalyst.