Preparation and Chemical Properties
Zirconium hydrides form upon interaction of the metal with hydrogen gas. Whereas this reaction occurs even at room temperature, homogeneous bulk hydrogenation is usually achieved by annealing at temperatures of 400–600 °C for a period between several hours and a few weeks. At room temperature, zirconium hydrides quickly oxidize in air, and even in high vacuum. The formed nanometer-thin layer of oxide stops further oxygen diffusion into the material, and thus the change in composition due to oxidation can usually be neglected. However, the oxidation proceeds deeper into the bulk with increasing temperature.
Zirconium hydrides are soluble in hydrofluoric acid or alcohol; they react violently with water, acids, oxidizers or halogenated compounds.
Read more about this topic: Zirconium Hydride
Famous quotes containing the words preparation and, preparation, chemical and/or properties:
“It’s sad but true that if you focus your attention on housework and meal preparation and diapers, raising children does start to look like drudgery pretty quickly. On the other hand, if you see yourself as nothing less than your child’s nurturer, role model, teacher, spiritual guide, and mentor, your days take on a very different cast.”
—Joyce Maynard (20th century)
“Living each day as a preparation for the next is an exciting way to live. Looking forward to something is much more fun than looking back at something—and much more constructive. If we can prepare ourselves so that we never have to think, “Oh, if I had only known, if I had only been ready,” our lives can really be the great adventure we so passionately want them to be.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)
“Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labor, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.”
—Lewis Thomas (b. 1913)
“A drop of water has the properties of the sea, but cannot exhibit a storm. There is beauty of a concert, as well as of a flute; strength of a host, as well as of a hero.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)