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Trying to contain hydrogen

  1. Aug 25, 2008 #1
    I am trying to isolate and extract (mostly) hydrogen via a reaction. The reaction I was thinking of was aluminium and caustic soda, giving hydrogen gas, which I would collect in balloon i.e. The hydrogen inflates the balloon and I hold the mouth and take it off, thus having mostly hydrogen gas inside.

    From there I am a bit stumped at how I could store this hydrogen. I obviously can't just keep it in the balloon. Are there any alternatives that I could use/something air tight I could make? Are there any containers out there that I could possibly buy which would allow me to make this happen or are there better processess out there?

    all suggestion welcome, thanks!

    Note: I know I can just buy pure hydrogen, but where is the fun in that?
  2. jcsd
  3. Aug 25, 2008 #2


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    Staff: Mentor

    Lab methods for producing gases are mostly for obtaining gases that will be consumed immediately, not stored. Hydrogen molecules are very small and they will leak from most containers (not as fast as helium, but most likely faster than any other gas).
  4. Aug 25, 2008 #3


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    To eliminate the possibility of leakage and contamination, you could "store" it in the form of a solid hydride.
  5. Aug 27, 2008 #4
    okay, thanks. Both of you have given me something to think about.

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