The Helium balloon explodes with a bang. The Hydrogen balloon explodes with a more muffled bang and a yellow-red flame phenomenon. The balloon filled with the Hydrogen / Oxygen mixture produces by far the loudest and hardest bang.



Helium is a rare gas and does not react with components of the air. The bang is merely caused by the bursting of the balloon. Hydrogen is a highly flammable gas, which reacts explosively with the Oxygen of the air � which, in turn, also fuels the burning of the Hydrogen. The explosion threshold of Hydrogen is 4-75 � that means that Hydrogen concentrated in the air with over 4% and less than 75% will react explosively. In the balloon, it is therefore mostly a case of burning the Hydrogen. The mixture of the third balloon shows this same explosive reaction, but the bang is that much louder as Oxygen is already present. In both cases, water is the product of the gas reaction.



2 H2(g) + O2(g) -> 2 H2O(g)



Learn more about this experiment: http://www.science-tube.com/index.php?c=chemie§ion=015



Source: http://www.science-tube.com/

Views: 8,334
Added: 16 years ago.
Topic: Gases