Following Newton, he believed a gas to be made up of particles or atoms, From Dalton's Hydrogen Gas.
Dalton believed that the molecules of the elementary gases consisted each of one atom; his diagram for hydrogen gas makes the point clear.
Water, at ordinary or slightly elevated temperatures, is decomposed more or less readily, with evolution of hydrogen gas and formation of a basic hydrate, by (I) potassium (formation of KHO), sodium (NaHO), lithium (LiOH), barium, strontium, calcium (BaH 2 O 2, &c.); (2) magnesium, zinc, manganese (MgO 2 H 2, &c.).
Of the rest, the following are readily oxidized by steam at a red heat, with formation of hydrogen gas - zinc, iron, cadmium, cobalt, nickel, tin.
It may be prepared by passing hydrogen gas and bromine vapour through a tube containing a heated platinum spiral.
