Kipp Generator


Kipp Generator

 

a laboratory apparatus used for the preparation of gases by the action of a liquid on a solid at room temperature.

The Kipp generator was first manufactured in Holland around the middle of the 19th century by the scientific instrument firm founded by P. Kipp. The apparatus consists of three glass vessels. The middle and lower vessels are joined by a neck through which passes a long tube that allows communication between the upper and the lower vessels. The solid material (for example, zinc, in the production of hydrogen) is placed in the middle vessel, which is equipped with a gas-outlet tube with a stopcock. The liquid (for example, dilute hydrochloric acid) is poured into the upper vessel. Filling the lower compartment, the liquid rises into the middle vessel and reacts with the solid. The gas evolved exits through the gas-outlet tube. When the stopcock is closed, the gas crowds the liquid out of the middle vessel, and the reaction stops.