This 200-Year-Old Lighter Ignites Without a Spark

[sl8]

Catalytic combustion, using platinum.

13:50 min.

This 200-Year-Old Lighter Ignites Without a Spark

Steve Mould
May 16 2025

Learn more and apply to Jane Street’s WiSE program in New York, London or Hong Kong: [see Youtube description for this and other links ]

Döbereiner's lamp uses a platinum catalyst to react hydrogen with oxygen.

Huge thanks to Marcus at Marb's lab for making the lamps. Here's the excellent making of video:

[...]

[HeartsCanHope]

1. Thanks for this! Going to share it with my husband and son!

[sl8]

2. De nada. Glad you liked it. nt

[marble falls]

3. That's not so hard to build. I like gadgets that are too large of a solution to a small problem. And this is primo ...

... Not enough wherewithal for a match, but wealth enough to put this gadget together, any part of which is more complicated than a match, vs flint, steel and tinder.

[sl8]

4. Cool, cool, cool. Here's the "making of" video:

Last edited Sat May 17, 2025, 04:53 PM - Edit history (1)

The voice is bit annoying.

8:58 min.

Building the Döbereiner's lamp, one of the first modern lighters in history

Marb's lab
2023 Jul 18

Building and demonstration of the Döbereiner's lamp also called the "tinderbox". Invented in 1823 by German chemist Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, it is considered one of the first modern lighters and was commercially very successful.

Image source: Hamburg Historical Museums Foundation - Museum of Hamburg History

[marble falls]

5. No real difficulty here, the sulphuric is not anything to play with, but otherwise it's pretty simple ...

... I noticed the small step of a quick heating of the palladium wool required a second of open flame. This could be an Achilles heel if one were building this and found that they had no open flame to "prime" the wool. But way cool.

that AI voice had a good natural tone, poor dynamics, and typical AI weird pronunciation. The strange rules in spoken English will always be the weak link in AI.

[hunter]

6. For those who would rather read...

Zinc metal reacts with dilute sulfuric acid to produce hydrogen gas. When a valve is opened, a jet of hydrogen is released onto a platinum sponge. The sponge catalyzes a reaction with atmospheric oxygen, which heats the catalyst and ignites the hydrogen, producing a gentle flame.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%B6bereiner%27s_lamp

[sl8]

7. Thanks.

Note that the video goes into quite a bit more detail, especially regarding how the catalyzing function of the platinum works.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Makes Sense

Platinum & vanadium oxides are VERY effective catalysts for oxidation.
With a catalyst, there way more than enough oxygen in air to trigger the combustion.