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"The multiple use of hydrogen (e.g. a stove just needs to burn the gas)" Oh, no. You don't want to be cooking over a flame capasble of melting platinum. You wi
by lightedman 3y ago
"The multiple use of hydrogen (e.g. a stove just needs to burn the gas)"
Oh, no. You don't want to be cooking over a flame capasble of melting platinum. You will utterly destroy your pots and pans temper. I do jewelry work, hydrogen gas is one of the hardest gases to properly work with. I'd rather let a newbie play with oxy-acetylene than a hydrogen torch.
- rootusrootus 3y agoCould you elaborate on why this is? Naively, the temperature of a simple hydrogen flame is not too much hotter than a methane flame. And in torch form, it seems like MAPP is several hundred degrees (C) hotter? And oxy-acetylene a few hundred more on top of that. Any torch seems to have way more than enough heat to melt platinum (1700C)?
- lightedman 3y agoA hydrogen-oxygen flame (this is what happens naturally since you're burning hydrogen in open atmosphere) burns closer to 2800C, and also has the fun property of causing embrittlement (which is especially worsened at higher temperatures where metal expands and becomes more porous.) Your steel pots and pans are essentially toast under a hydrogen flame. People think "Fire is fire" and no, no it is not.
- rootusrootus 3y agoWhen I was doing a bit of research, I was coming up with 2050C or so for hydrogen open flame (in air; with pure oxygen it was 2600C), and about 1950C for methane in air. Natural gas is mostly methane and has a pretty similar flame temperature, but it does not melt our pots and pans. Why would hydrogen? It is hotter, sure, but not dramatically so.
- albrewer 3y agoHydrogen really likes to strip out all the carbon in your steel, leaving you with pure iron (given enough time). It's a well known phenomenon called hydrogen embrittlement.