Gaseous combustiont at high pressures. Part XI.—Further experiments on the influences of hydrogen and steam on the explosion of carbonic oxide-air, &c., mixtures

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing papers of a mathematical and physical character Containing papers of a mathematical and physical character, 1928-10, Vol.120 (786), p.546-563
• Main Authors: Bone, William Arthur, Townend, Donald T. A., Scott, Gordon A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0950-1207; 2053-9150
• DOI: 10.1098/rspa.1928.0165

In Part II of this series were described the results obtained in the year 1920 by the late W. A. Haward and one of us by exploding isothermic 2 (mH2 + nCO) + O2 + 4N2 mixtures (where m + n =1) in our spherical bomb No. 2 at an initial pressure of 50 atmospheres, from which it was concluded (inter alia) that, in such circumstances, not only had hydrogen exerted a peculiar influence in accelerating the rise of pressure, disproportionate to the amount of it present, but also that it more potent than its equivalent of steam as a promoter of the combustion of carbonic oxide. Since the results referred to were published,. not only have certain new facts affecting their interpretation been discovered, but also new questions relating thereto have been propounded for discussion. Among the new facts should be mentioned the peculiar radiation-absorbing rôle played by nitrogen in CO-Air explosions at high initial pressures; also that, in such circumstances, carbonic oxide is directly oxidised without any chemical intervention of steam at all.