Open AccessA study of the oxidation of copper and the reduction of copper oxide by a new method
Publication year - 1923
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.1923.0069
Subject(s) - copper , oxide , metal , copper oxide , diffusion , oxygen , oxidation process , reaction rate constant , materials science , inorganic chemistry , reaction rate , chemistry , conductivity , metallurgy , chemical engineering , kinetics , catalysis , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
A determination of the rate of oxidation of metals is beset by many difficulties. If a relatively large quantity of massive metal is used the experiments are very prolonged, owing to the difficulty of oxidising the metal, and it is not easy to maintain the pressure of the oxygen constant during an experiment. On the other hand, if finely powdered metal, formed from oxide by a reduction process, be used, the local heating during oxidation is so intense that measurements of temperature of the reaction are quite illusory. Moreover, the rate of diffusion of the oxygen into the metal is probably a determining factor in the rate of oxidation under such conditions. These difficulties have been surmounted by the use of the method to be described, in which the rates of oxidation of a film of copper about 0.001 mm. thick (and of the reduction of the oxide formed from this copper) have been followed continuously by observations of the changing electrical conductivity of the film. The method can be applied generally to study heterogeneous reactions involving the production from a metal (which must have an easily reducible oxide) of substances of high resistance compared to that of the metal.