Glowing splint test

The concept glowing splint in chemistry detection of oxygen (O2).

If you hold a wood chip, whose flame was extinguished after ignition to give the embers smoldering in a vessel containing the gas to be tested, the smoldering wood chip flares up in the presence of higher concentrations of oxygen and burns again. Also nitrous oxide ( N2O, " laughing gas " ) shows this oxidizing effect, so the glowing splint is no clear method to detect oxygen.

The glowing splint is used like for demonstrations, since one can prove the formation of oxygen in a chemical reaction in a simple way provided the presence of nitrous oxide can be excluded. The detection is based on the combustion of the chip is an exothermic reaction. If the smoldering wood chip with oxygen together, the combustion reaction is initiated by the residual heat ( the glow ). The resulting reaction heat causes the wood chip flare up again.

Electro -derived oxygen, which escapes from the collection vessel, sparked a flame at the glowing wood chip

Ember wood chip, which ignites glaring in pure oxygen