User:Richardtang1902/sandbox/Döbereiner's Lighter

Döbereiner's Lighter is a jar that kindles a flame with the flammable hydrogen gas produced by the reaction of zinc metal and sulfuric acid. It was invented by a German chemist named Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner in 1823. In the lighter, a jet of hydrogen gas is catalyzed by platinum metal when it is released from the valve of the jar. Since the time it was invented, Döbereiner's Lighter was improved with new technologies that aim to redesign it to the more convenient lighter that we know today. Nevertheless, with a push of a finger, Döbereiner's Lighter benefited household and industrial fire lighting for about 40 years.

Structure and Function
Döbereiner's Lighter relies on the reaction of zinc (Zn) metal and sulfuric acid (H2SO4). The lighter is a tightly sealed bottle that contains an open glass cylinder at the bottom hanging with a small piece of zinc (Zn). In the outer glass vessel that is filled with sulfuric acid (H2SO4), the zinc reacts with sulfuric acid to generate hydrogen gas (H2) :

Zn + H2SO4 -> Zn2+ + SO42- + H2

Afterward, the controlled outlet, called the "stopcock", opens up from the glass bottle to direct the hydrogen gas through the valve to a sponge of platinum. The gas mixture then kindles a flame. The hydrogen gas will continually be produced by the contact between the rising sulfuric acid and the zinc as long as the stopcock is open. The flame can be turned off by closing the stopcock. The increasing amount of H2 will come to a stop as gas pressure prevents the acid from interacting with the zinc.

Estimably, more than 20 thousands Döbereiner's Lighters were utilized as a common applicant all over the Europe at the time.

Background
Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, the inventor of Döbereiner's Lighter, was born in Hof an der Saale on December 13, 1780. As a son of coachman Johann Adam Döbereiner and Johanna Susanna Göringe, was simply a self-educated under his mother's guidance. In 1974, his apprenticeship began at a local apothecary called Lutz. In 1810, he had the chance to be appointed to an assistant professorship in Jena, a town in the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. With another Johann Wolfgang, namely Goethe or Gehlen, Döbereiner studied analytical chemistry at the University of Jena.

In 1823, by a chance, Döbereiner found that heat was generated when a platinum sponge, a form of platinum metal, had contact with hydrogen and burned red- to white-hot, bursting into a hot, colorless flame. Eventually Döbereiner utilized the application of this chemical reaction and turned it into a lamp that is named after him. Furthermore, Döbereiner went on his research on the catalytic properties of platinum

In addition, Döbereiner was one of the pioneers of Mendeleyev's periodic table with his discovery on an significant regularity of elements and the grouping of some elements:  lithium, sodium and potassium; chlorine, bromine and iodine; sulfur, selenium and tellurium. He also instituted the "combining weights" of the element with his methodical chemical analyses as he realized that stronia's mass was about the same as the average weights of lime and baryta.

Further Improvement
Döbereiner's Lighter has inspired the invention of more convenient self-lighting tools like matches and modern lighters because Döbereiner's Lighter itself has some issues on its incompleteness and insecurity that have been noticed by the public. For example, Gustave Miller, an advocator on improving Döbereiner's Lighter to be a more secured lighter in 1868, pointed out that there is a good chance that the horizontal outlet could corrode with the surrounding metal since the small particles of sulfuric acid are carried up with the hydrogen, and then the acid is deposited in the horizontal channel which blocks the passage of hydrogen gas and eventually makes the lighter inoperative. Miller suggested that the lighter should have the whole channel in a vertical position, so the sulfuric acid that could have been deposited in the channel could flow back to its reservoir without corroding the passage. Another possible weakness pointed out by Miller that could lead to potential danger is that the platinum sponge, which is placed at the opposite side of the horizontal channel's outlet, is not fully protected. As the spongy platinum is not protected, it could be easily kindled by the flame of burning paper or woods once they have in contact by accident. Then, Miller provided the idea of protecting the spongy platinum with a suspended bell that fully covers the platinum.

In 1848, which was about 25 years after the invention of Döbereiner's Lighter, a Döbereiner's student called Rudolph Christian Bõttger (1806-1881), with his dedication to improving Döbereiner's Lighter, invented "safety matches" that gradually replaced the lighter. Böttger noticed that the kindling energy of platinum sponge can still be restored by heating after being extinguished by ammonia or ammonium sulfide. Eventually Böttger became the Professor of Chemistry and Physics at the Physikalische Verein at Frankfurt am Main (1835-1875). Despite the emergence of matches, Döbereiner's Lighter had been used in the laboratory until late 19th century.