The Deflagrating Davy Lamp – Renaissance eines chemischen Kabinettstücks zur Substitution von Gefahrenstoffen im zeitgemäßen Schulversuch.

In experimental courses, the experiment of the oscillating deflagration of a methanol‐air mixture on a copper or platinum wire often introduces heterogeneous catalysis. Various authors have developed this experiment for about 30 years. However, regardless to its toxic effects the use of methanol in this experiment poses some hazards, e.g. the formation of formic aldehyde during the reaction. Due to the hazard classification of methanol and formic aldehyde, the realization of this experiment in chemistry classes should be considered as critical. This post now presents a new school experiment on the oscillatory reaction of alkanes with atmospheric oxygen by resorting to historical context‐knowledge on the heterogeneous catalytic effects of platinum. The use of household petroleum ether also allows students to do the experiment from the 4th grade onwards and simplifies the handling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]