Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: taregg on 23/10/2011 15:09:32

Title: which element comes high flammable after hydrogen ?
Post by: taregg on 23/10/2011 15:09:32
which element comes high flammable after hydrogen..........?
Title: which element comes high flammable after hydrogen ?
Post by: Bored chemist on 23/10/2011 15:30:28
Probably Cs or P. Why do you ask?
Title: which element comes high flammable after hydrogen ?
Post by: CliffordK on 23/10/2011 17:34:11
Are you talking about in order in the periodic table?
Or oxidation energy?

Lithium? 
Sodium?

Even some metals such as aluminum can undergo violent oxidation given the right conditions.
Title: which element comes high flammable after hydrogen ?
Post by: damocles on 25/10/2011 04:15:32
As I mentioned in another thread, flammability is a simple switch concept. Something can be flammable, or it can be non-flammable.

As I also mentioned, there are several possible alternatives for introducing a hierarchy. Here is the ordering of some elements relative to hydrogen on 3 of them:

(1) Auto-Ignition Temperature (data from http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fuels-ignition-temperatures-d_171.html (http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fuels-ignition-temperatures-d_171.html))

White phosphorus 49°C
Red phosphorus 260°C
Sulfur 243°C
Carbon as charcoal 349°C
Carbon as coke/graphite 700°C
Hydrogen gas 500°C

Unfortunately none of the reactive metals are listed in that table.

(2) Heat (Enthalpy) of combustion per mole at 25°C (Data deduced from Housecroft & Constable "Chemistry" 3rd Edition, Appendix 11)

Hydrogen gas   286 kJ (molecule) or 143 kJ (atom)
Coke/graphite    394 kJ (atom)
(Red) Phosphorus     2984 kJ (molecule) or 746 kJ (atom)
Sulfur    2375 kJ (molecule) or 297 kJ (atom)
Lithium   299 kJ (atom)
Magnesium   602 kJ (atom)
Aluminium   838 kJ (atom)
Beryllium   609 (atom)

(3) Heat (Enthalpy) of combustion per gram at 25°C (Same source, recalculated for mass basis)

Hydrogen gas   142 kJ/g
Beryllium   67.5 kJ/g
Lithium   43 kJ/g
Coke/graphite   33 kJ/g
Aluminium   31 kJ/g
Magnesium   25 kJ/g
Red Phosphorus   24 kJ/g
Sulfur   9.5 kJ/g

There are many other possible ways of building a league table, but documentation on flash points, or minimum oxygen pressure for sustainable reaction, or flame temperature is much harder to find.

The only table that has hydrogen gas as a clear winner is the heat of reaction per gram, and on that table the element beryllium is a clear second. None of the elements missing from the list above can compete.

However, this particular table would usually be described as "fuel value" rather than "flammability", and it clearly does not mean anything like what we usually mean in everyday language when we talk about "flammability", let alone correspond with scientific usage of the term.