Since silicon has been robbed with difficulty of its oxygen it takes it
on again with great avidity. This has been made use of in the making of
hydrogen. A mixture of silicon (or of the ferro-silicon alloy containing
90 per cent. of silicon) with soda and slaked lime is inert, compact and
can be transported to any point where hydrogen is needed, say at a
battle front. Then the "hydrogenite," as the mixture is named, is
ignited by a hot iron ball and goes off like thermit with the production
of great heat and the evolution of a vast volume of hydrogen gas. Or the
ferro-silicon may be simply burned in an atmosphere of steam in a closed
tank after ignition with a pinch of gunpowder. The iron and the silicon
revert to their oxides while the hydrogen of the water is set free. The
French "silikol" method consists in treating silicon with a 40 per cent.
solution of soda.
Another source of hydrogen originating with the electric furnace is
"hydrolith," which consists of calcium hydride. Metallic calcium is
prepared from lime in the electric furnace.
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