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What is Hydrogen?

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Hydrogen is a highly flammable chemical element that occurs in great abundance throughout the universe. In fact, this element makes up approximately 75% of the universe, by volume, and it appears in a very large number of compounds, especially those which make up various organic materials. Many people are familiar with hydrogen as a potential fuel source, thanks to its promotion as a potential alternative fuel, and everyone consumes it every day, in the water people drink and the foods they eat.

The atomic number of hydrogen is one, and it is identified by the symbol H on the periodic table. It is a unique standalone element, not classified with any other elements. Many scientists think of hydrogen as a kind of elemental building block, since its simple structure is the basis of so many things. The colorless, highly flammable gas has a number of industrial uses, especially in the refining of petroleum products.

The periodic table, hydrogen top left.
The periodic table, hydrogen top left.

The history of the discovery of hydrogen is quite lengthy. Like other gases, it rarely appears in a pure form on Earth, and it took some time for people to understand that it was an element. The gas was described as early as the 1400s, when experimenters combined acids and metals to produce a flammable gas. In 1671, Robert Boyle described this reaction in more detail, but it was not until 1766 that Henry Cavendish recognized hydrogen as a true element.

Hydrogen is represented by an H on the periodic table of elements.
Hydrogen is represented by an H on the periodic table of elements.

In 1783, Antoine Lavoisier proposed a name for the new element, adding together the Greek hydros for “water” and genes for “born or formed.” Lavoisier recognized that when hydrogen was burned, it produced water as a byproduct, through its combination with oxygen in the air. Thus, the element in a sense gives birth to water. Once hydrogen was fully recognized as an element, it began to be extracted from various natural sources and used in an assortment of fields.

Robert Boyle.
Robert Boyle.

Hydrogen is dangerous, as most people who know about the fate of the Hindenburg are aware. It was originally used as a lifting agent in balloons and zeppelins because it was so light, but the explosive nature of the gas led to the proposal of helium as a more stable and safe replacement. Since the element is so reactive, it must be handled with care to avoid unfortunate and explosive situations. Fortunately, few people work directly with pure hydrogen, and those who do are carefully trained.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a AllTheScience researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a AllTheScience researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

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Discussion Comments

anon1002921

How can I collect hydrogen, purely? What would you need? Could you split water to get it?

anon997208

74% of the elemental mass of this Universe and the Sun is hydrogen.

anon994012

How heavy is hydrogen?

anon165406

Hydrogen is a highly flammable chemical element.

anon160844

i love this. it has helped with my project!

anon124989

what is the source of hydrogen?

anon71997

where is hydrogen found? where can i get it?

anon66670

i want to learn about elements more. thank you for your big help.

anon56162

where is hydrogen found? where can i get it?

anon45272

Hydrogen is such a better source of fuel. The US Department of Energy states this in their 2007 report. We are a research and development company called thehydrogentoystore. we help semi trucks gain 50 percent more miles per gallon. Imagine how much this would help our economy if we could save the truckers money! Please take hydrogen energy seriously. It is not as dangerous as people think. If it were why would the US government approve it and state that it will replace gasoline? Thanks

anon37091

How does H2 prduce CO2?

anon30199

Can hydrogen be the best fuel to run cars?

anon7316

Great !!! How can we get plenty of nice, clean non-polluting Hydrogen to run our cars?

1) by cracking hydrocarbons, you know, like petroleum. You just get mounds of sticky, gooey, black stuff (probably toxic) left over, not much good for anything except building roads.

2) making "water gas" - first you heat up coal in the absence of air and you get smelly gasses and tar plus white-hot coke. Then you feed in steam onto the coke and you get nice clean hydrogen (plus poisonous carbon monoxide) but everything cools down so you feed in a little air - the CO burns and heats things up again so the hydrogen process can carry on - but for every ton of H2 you make you also produce at least 22 TONS of CO2

3) electrolysis - using huge amounts of electricity. Don't quite know how you'd prefer to make all that electricity, but could be by damming more rivers, building more wind-farms, melting thousands of tons of sand in arc furnaces to make solar panels. You could also burn petroleum or coal or even uranium.

By the way, electrolysis is also the original (and preferred) method of producing heavy water.

Go figure.

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    • The periodic table, hydrogen top left.
      By: jelena zaric
      The periodic table, hydrogen top left.
    • Hydrogen is represented by an H on the periodic table of elements.
      By: viperagp
      Hydrogen is represented by an H on the periodic table of elements.
    • Robert Boyle.
      Robert Boyle.
    • Balloons and airships from the late 1700s on often relied on hydrogen.
      By: lynea
      Balloons and airships from the late 1700s on often relied on hydrogen.
    • Antoine Lavoisier named hydrogen in 1783.
      By: Georgios Kollidas
      Antoine Lavoisier named hydrogen in 1783.
    • Early rigid dirigibles, including those designed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, were kept aloft by hydrogen, which is lighter than air.
      By: cityanimal
      Early rigid dirigibles, including those designed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, were kept aloft by hydrogen, which is lighter than air.