There are then many ways of producing hydrogen, but it is so light and
bulky that it is difficult to get it where it is wanted. The American
Government in the war made use of steel cylinders each holding 161 cubic
feet of the gas under a pressure of 2000 pounds per square inch. Even
the hydrogen used by the troops in France was shipped from America in
this form. For field use the ferro-silicon and soda process was adopted.
A portable generator of this type was capable of producing 10,000 cubic
feet of the gas per hour.
The discovery by a Kansas chemist of natural sources of helium may make
it possible to free ballooning of its great danger, for helium is
non-inflammable and almost as light as hydrogen.
Other uses of hydrogen besides ballooning have already been referred to
in other chapters. It is combined with nitrogen to form synthetic
ammonia. It is combined with oxygen in the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe to
produce heat. It is combined with vegetable and animal oils to convert
them into solid fats.
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