Kipp's apparatus

This tool makes gas.

It looks like a snowman. It has three glass parts. A man named Petrus Kipp made it.

You put solid lumps in the middle. You pour liquid into the top. When you open a small tap, the liquid and solid touch. This makes gas. The gas fills the middle part. When you close the tap, the gas pushes the liquid down. This stops the gas from making more. It is a clever way to make gas.

Kipp's apparatus is a tool used to make small amounts of gas.

A Dutch pharmacist named Petrus Jacobus Kipp invented it around 1844. It is often made of glass. The tool has three parts stacked on top of each other. It looks a bit like a snowman.

To use it, you put solid lumps in the middle part. You pour a liquid into the top part. A special plate with small holes sits between the middle and bottom parts. This plate lets liquid and gas pass through. You can use many things to make gas. For example, you can use marble and acid to make carbon dioxide.

There is a small tap called a stopcock near the middle. When you open the stopcock, air leaves the tool. This lets the liquid flow down to touch the solid lumps. This makes a chemical reaction that gives off gas. When you close the tap, the gas builds up. The pressure from the gas pushes the liquid back down. This stops the reaction until you open the tap again.

A Kipp's apparatus is a clever tool for making small amounts of gas.

Scientists and teachers used it for many years in labs and schools. It was invented around 1844 by a Dutch pharmacist named Petrus Jacobus Kipp. Today, most labs use gas cylinders instead of this tool. These cylinders provide gases that are much purer and drier. However, the Kipp generator remains a famous way to show how gases form.

The device is usually made of glass. It has three chambers stacked on top of each other. This shape makes it look a bit like a snowman. A tube goes from the top chamber down to the bottom. A special retention plate sits between the middle and bottom chambers. This plate has small holes in it. These holes let liquid and gas pass through easily. The solid material goes into the middle chamber. You must use lumps that are too big to fall through the holes.

Using the tool is a step-by-step process. First, you pour a liquid like acid into the top chamber. Next, you open a small tap called a stopcock. This lets air escape from the device. When the air leaves, the liquid flows down into the middle chamber. The liquid then touches the solid material to start a reaction. This reaction creates gas that rises up through the tube. You can then collect the gas through the stopcock.

The device can also stop the reaction on its own. When you close the stopcock, gas builds up in the middle. This gas creates pressure. The pressure pushes the liquid back down into the bottom chamber. Once the liquid is away from the solids, the reaction stops. This is very useful for controlling how much gas you make. You can simply open the tap again to start more. This works best if the solid does not dissolve in the liquid.

Many different things can be used in a Kipp's apparatus. You can make hydrogen using iron flakes and acid. Carbon dioxide can be made from marble pieces and acid. Some people even used a version called a Döbereiner's lamp. This small tool used hydrogen to make a gentle flame. It was sold as a way to light fires in the 1820s. Many different gases, like methane or ammonia, can be made this way.

A Kipp's apparatus is a specialized laboratory tool used to prepare small volumes of gas.

This device allows a chemist to control the production of gas by regulating a chemical reaction. It was invented around 1844 by a Dutch pharmacist named Petrus Jacobus Kipp. For many decades, it was a common sight in chemical laboratories and school demonstrations. Today, most laboratories have moved away from using this apparatus. Instead, they use industrial gas cylinders to supply their needs. These cylinders provide gases that are much purer and drier than those produced by a Kipp generator.

The physical design of the apparatus is quite distinct. It is typically constructed from glass, though some versions are made of polyethylene. The structure consists of three vertically stacked chambers that resemble the shape of a snowman. A tube extends downward from the upper chamber, passing through the middle chamber and into the bottom chamber. Between the middle and lower chambers, there is a retention plate. This plate is often a conical piece of glass containing small holes. These holes are designed to permit the passage of both liquid and gas while holding solid materials in place.

Operating the apparatus requires a specific sequence of steps to manage the reaction. To begin, a solid material, such as iron sulfide, is placed into the middle chamber. These solids must be in lumps large enough to stay above the retention plate. Next, a liquid, such as an acid, is poured into the top chamber. The acid can flow down the tube into the bottom chamber, but it cannot rise back up unless the gas pressure allows it. To start the process, a user opens a stopcock, which is a small valve located near the top of the middle chamber. Opening this valve lets air escape, allowing the liquid to flow through the retention plate and reach the solid material.

Once the liquid and solid meet, a chemical reaction occurs, and gas is evolved. This gas can be drawn off through the stopcock as needed. The apparatus has a built-in mechanism to stop the reaction automatically. When the stopcock is closed, the pressure of the evolved gas in the middle chamber begins to rise. This increasing pressure pushes the liquid back down into the bottom chamber. Once the liquid is no longer in contact with the solid material, the reaction stops. This cycle allows for precise, on-demand production of gas. However, this method only works if the solid material is insoluble in the acid. If the solid were to dissolve, gas would continue to evolve even after the liquid level dropped.

Scientists have used the Kipp's apparatus to produce a vast array of different gases. For example, hydrogen can be generated using iron flakes or zinc combined with hydrochloric or diluted sulfuric acid. Carbon dioxide is produced by reacting pieces of marble, which is calcium carbonate, with hydrochloric acid. Other complex gases include hydrogen sulfide, made from iron(II) sulfide and acid, and acetylene, made from calcium carbide and water. The apparatus can even produce methane from aluminium carbide and lukewarm water. It can also be used to make more specialized substances like ozone, ammonia, and various silanes or germanes.

Because the gas is produced through a vigorous chemical reaction, it is often not ready for immediate use. The produced gas is frequently contaminated with water vapor or a fine aerosol of the reacting chemicals. Therefore, the gas often requires further purification or drying. For instance, acidic gases like hydrogen chloride or sulfur dioxide can be dried using concentrated sulfuric acid or phosphorus pentoxide. Basic gases, such as ammonia, can be dried using substances like calcium oxide or sodium hydroxide. This extra step ensures the gas reaches the required purity for scientific experiments.

Beyond simple gas production, the apparatus has several historical and specialized variations. One interesting version is the Döbereiner's lamp, which is a small, modified Kipp's apparatus used to produce hydrogen. In this version, the hydrogen is passed over a platinum sponge catalyst. The reaction between the hydrogen and oxygen in the air heats the catalyst, creating a gentle flame. This device was commercialized in the 1820s for lighting pipes and fires, with over a million units sold. Other larger variants, such as those designed by Gay-Lussac and Verkhovsky, were created to produce much larger amounts of gas than the standard Kipp generator.