Oxyhydrogen is a mixture of hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) gases. This gaseous mixture is used for torches to process refractory materials and was the first[1] gaseous mixture used for welding. Theoretically, a ratio of 2:1 hydrogen:oxygen is enough to achieve maximum efficiency; in practice a ratio 4:1 or 5:1 is needed to avoid an oxidizing flame.[2]
This mixture may also be referred to as Knallgas (Scandinavian and German Knallgas; lit. 'bang-gas'), although some authors define knallgas to be a generic term for the mixture of fuel with the precise amount of oxygen required for complete combustion, thus 2:1 oxyhydrogen would be called "hydrogen-knallgas".[3]
"Brown's gas" and HHO are terms for oxyhydrogen originating in pseudoscience, although x H2 + y O2 is preferred due to HHO meaning H2O.
- ^ Howard Monroe Raymond (1916), "Oxy-Hydrogen Welding", Modern Shop Practice volume 1, American Technical Society, archived from the original on March 6, 2011
- ^ Viall, Ethan (1921). Gas Torch and Thermite Welding. McGraw-Hill. p. 10. Archived from the original on August 3, 2016.
- ^ W. Dittmar, "Exercises in quantitative chemical analysis", 1887, p. 189 Archived June 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine