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I wonder if two gases , Hydrogen and Oxygen (product of electrolysis, HHO) are placed in a glass jar and let it seat for a few hours, will they separate (Oxygen to the bottom and Hydrogen to the top) by it’s own weight difference ? Thanks

timbear3
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    possible duplicates: http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/43118/can-gases-be-immiscible/43124#43124 http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/43320/why-do-we-consider-all-gasses-to-be-in-one-phase/43321#43321 – Agriculturist Jul 08 '16 at 19:03

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At room temperature, gas molecules are in random motion, bouncing off each other and occupying the available space. Gases would diffuse and form a homogeneous mixture, just like air. However a gas centrifuge can generate enough differential acceleration to separate them based on their molecular masses.

[ A gas centrifuge is a device that performs isotope separation of gases. A centrifuge relies on the principles of centrifugal force accelerating molecules so that particles of different masses are physically separated in a gradient along the radius of a rotating container. - Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_centrifuge]

Nikhilesh Iyer
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A few hours is not long enough for the two gases to separate.

This experiment http://lss.fnal.gov%2farchive%2f2005%2fconf%2ffermilab-conf-05-635-a conducted at Fermilab to verify safety procedures for the release of asphyxiant gases, suggests that gases of sufficiently different densities will stay striated for some time if the release of the heavier or lighter gas is slow enough as not to disturb the present atmosphere, but that gases that are initially mixed will remain mixed for much longer than several hours.

repurposer
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