Inert Atmosphere Work
The gas in a glovebox is pumped through a series of treatment devices which remove solvents, water and oxygen from the gas. Heated copper metal (or some other finely divided metal) is commonly used to remove oxygen, this oxygen removing column is normally regenerated by passing a hydrogen/nitrogen mixture through it while it is heated: the water formed is passed out of the box with the excess hydrogen and nitrogen. It is common to use molecular sieves to remove water by adsorbing it in the molecular sieves' pores. Such a box is often used by organometallic chemists to transfer dry solids from one container to another.
An alternative to using a glovebox for air sensitive work is to employ Schlenk methods using a Schlenk line. One disadvantage of working in a glovebox is that organic solvents will attack the plastic seals. As a result the box will start to leak and water and oxygen can then enter the box. Another disadvantage of a glovebox is that oxygen and water can diffuse through the plastic gloves.
Inert atmosphere gloveboxes are typically kept at a higher pressure than the surrounding air, so that any microscopic leaks are mostly leaking inert gas out of the box instead of letting air in.
Read more about this topic: Glovebox
Famous quotes containing the words inert, atmosphere and/or work:
“Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“I have wrestled with death. It is the most unexciting contest you can imagine. It takes place in an impalpable greyness, with nothing underfoot, with nothing around, without spectators, without clamor, without glory, without the great desire of victory, without the great desire of defeat, in a sickly atmosphere of tepid skepticism, without much belief in your own right, and still less in that of your adversary.”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)
“We visualized her less as a woman at work than as a light widening as it brightened.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)