Zirconium Hydride, ZrH₂

Zirconium Hydride, ZrH₂, does not belong to the category which includes the tetrahydrides of carbon, silicon, and germanium; for these are gaseous hydrides, whilst zirconium hydride is solid, like the hydrides of the alkali and alkaline earth metals. Zirconium hydride was obtained by Winkler, mixed with unchanged zirconia, by passing hydrogen over a heated mixture of zirconia and magnesium powder; by Weiss and Neumann, as a grey solid, when hydrogen is passed over red-hot zirconium; and by Wedekind by heating the powdered metal to 700° C. in hydrogen at a pressure of 1.5 atmosphere. The hydride burns in air to the sesquioxide; its dissociation-pressure up to 1100° C. has been measured by Wedekind.