hydrogen Analysischemical element (H)

When atoms are excited, as in an electric discharge, they radiate light at discrete wavelengths that appear as lines in the spectrum. Inasmuch as the wavelengths of atomic spectral lines are characteristic of the element, the atomic spectrum may be used for identifying the element. The simplest of all such spectra is that of hydrogen. Johann Jakob Balmer, a Swiss mathematician and secondary school teacher, in 1885 discovered an equation for representing the wavelengths of hydrogen spectral lines, of which nine had been observed in the laboratory and of which five more were photographed in the spectrum of the star Sirius. The wavelengths, lambda (λ), in angstroms, were represented by the formula: λ = 3645.6 [m²/(m² − 4)], m taking the successive values 3, 4, 5, etc. It was not until 1913 that a theoretical basis for this empirical relation was given by the Danish physicist Niels Bohr in his theory of atomic radiation.

The spinning motion of the proton gives it magnetic properties and causes it to precess in an applied magnetic field, much as a spinning top precesses in a gravitational field. The frequency at which a particular proton precesses is determined by its local electrical environment and by the strength of the applied magnetic field. When hydrogen compounds are irradiated with electromagnetic waves of a particular frequency, the phenomenon of resonance absorption occurs at magnetic field strengths that are different for each structurally (magnetically) distinguishable proton in the compound. Thus, proton magnetic resonance makes it possible to distinguish the structural types of hydrogen atoms present; furthermore, the absorption peak intensities are proportional to the number of hydrogen atoms of each kind. The absorption peaks are often split, however, because of the magnetic interaction of the proton magnetic moments among themselves. Proton-magnetic-resonance measurements provide data for the investigation of chemical structure.

One method for determining the total hydrogen content of a substance is to oxidize the substance completely in a stream of pure oxygen, which reacts with the hydrogen to produce water vapour. The resulting vapours are passed through a powerful dehydrating agent, such as magnesium perchlorate, which absorbs the water. From the increase in weight of the absorption tube containing the desiccant, the amount of hydrogen oxidized can be calculated. Gaseous hydrogen or hydrogen compounds may be oxidized by passing them over hot copper oxide, and the resulting water can then be collected and weighed and the amount of hydrogen calculated; to measure the hydrogen gas itself, the water vapour from the oxidation may be reduced to hydrogen gas by passing it over hot uranium metal—the hydrogen then being measured in a simple device called a gas buret.

Strongly acidic hydrogen atoms (as in compounds such as HCl, HNO₃, H₂SO₄, etc.) can be determined in solution by adding measured amounts of a strong base, such as sodium hydroxide, NaOH, until the acid is neutralized, using an indicator to determine the end point. The net reaction is H⁺ + OH⁻ → H₂O. Weakly acidic hydrogen atoms (such as that attached to the oxygen in ethanol, C₂H₅OH, and those attached to the nitrogen in acetamide, CH₃CONH₂) can be converted to methane (measured in a gas buret) by reaction with the methyl Grignard reagent, CH₃MgI. Hydridic hydrogen atoms (as in NaBH₄, LiH, etc.) can be converted to molecular hydrogen (measured in a gas buret) by reaction with an aqueous acid.