<P> A splint is a simple piece of equipment used in scientific laboratories . Splints are typically long, thin strips of wood, about 6 inches (150 mm) long and 1⁄4 inch (6 mm) wide, and are consumable but inexpensive . They are typically used for tasks such as lighting bunsen burners, as the length of the splint allows a flame to be lit without risk to the user's hand, should the burner flare back . Another use for splints are chemical identification of various gases, and splints are also used to teach simple chemical principles in schools . </P> <P> Some gases are hard to distinguish by sight or smell alone . For example, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are all colourless and odourless . Several laboratory experiments are capable of producing relatively pure gas as an end product, and it may be useful to demonstrate the chemical identity of that gas . Burning splints or glowing splints can be used to identify whether a gas is flammable, whether it is oxidising, or whether it is chemically inert . </P> <P> These tests are not safe for completely unidentified gases, as the energy of their explosion could be beyond the safe confinement of a fragile glass tube . This means that they are really only useful as a demonstration of a gas that is already strongly suspected, and so is known to be safe . In a high school chemistry class, a typical use would be to show the presence of hydrogen (after electrolysis of water, or by reacting a metal with an acid). </P>

How to test for presence of hydrogen gas