sci.physics.electromag

"Szczepan Bia³ek" < @ > wrote in message
news:f92n68$faq$1@ ...
>
> "Bill Miller" wrote
> news: $ @bgtnsc04-news.ops. ...
>>
>>
>> OK... but Hydrogen, in a gaseous state is just H. I see no chemical
>> reaction here at all.
>
> Hydrogen, in a gaseous state is H2 like N2, O2 and so on. The rest of
> necessary information you can pick up from:
>
> /wiki/Catalyst
>>
>> Also, WHY does the mere presence of Pt in Hydrogen lead to an exothermal
>> phenomenon? In other words, where does the heat (and light!) come from?
>
> 2H2 + O2 = 2H2O
> The mere presence of Pt makes that this reaction starts at room
> temperature.
> S*

Hello S*...

Thanks for the Wikipedia suggestion but this does not answer the question
that I am asking. And Dave's multiple hits on the Google search for
"Adsorption, Platinum Igniter" are mostly "partial" hits that do not deal
with my question. Google Scholar provides some peer-reviewed work but no
apparent answer to the question I am asking.

I am not inquiring about the Catalytic conversion of 2H2 and O2 into Water,
nor what happens when Pt is mixed with a variety of gases that are rich in
H2. This is a well known (if not well-understood) phenomenon.

I am interested in what happens when Pt is in the presence of ONLY Hydrogen.

When Pt is immersed in H2 (only), it appears that the Pt gets Very Hot. I am
interested in what is going on to cause Pt to emit IR and Visible light EM
radiation when in the presence of hydrogen gas and ONLY hydrogen gass.

No catalytic conversion. No chemical reaction. Just Platinum and Hydrogen.

This *must* have been studied, but all I have been able to find is anecdotal
information: (it gets hot) or discussions of how this phenomenon can be used
to light cigars, ignte various gases that contain hydrogen, and
(occasionally) blow things up.

Bill