Uses of Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the third most common element on Earth but it's relatively rare in pure form. Pure hydrogen is a gas under natural conditions on Earth and hydrogen atoms are too small to be held by Earth's gravity. Hydrogen is normally produced by liberating it from compounds that contain hydrogen. This is done on a large scale as hydrogen has a variety of uses, especially in the chemical and petroleum industries.
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Petroleum
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The processing of fossil fuels represents the largest general use of elemental hydrogen. It's used extensively to modify raw petroleum into products that can be used commercially. Raw petroleum tends to be composed of very long chains of carbon atoms known as hydrocarbons. A process known as hydro cracking uses hydrogen to break these heavy hydrocarbons into simpler molecules which have greater commercial uses.
Chemistry
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Hydrogen is also routinely used in chemistry. The manufacture of common chemicals such as ammonia, hydrochloric acid and methanol require hydrogen on an industrial scale. It's also used to increase the number of hydrogen atoms in fats and oils. This process is known as hydrogenation and is used to change the chemical properties of these compounds. For example, hydrogenation can be used to convert unsaturated fats into saturated fats.
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Engineering
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Hydrogen also has applications related to other properties besides its chemical reactivity. Hydrogen is one-fifteenth as dense as air and it was once used in airships, although this use has largely been replaced by helium. However, hydrogen is still used to inflate children's balloons in some parts of the world. Hydrogen's high thermal conductivity makes it useful as a coolant in electrical generators and it's also used as a shielding gas in hydrogen welding. Liquid hydrogen has scientific applications in superconductivity research.
Leak Detection
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The small size of the hydrogen atom also makes it useful for finding leaks. It can be used in pure form or mixed with nitrogen to find leaks too small for other gases to detect. Hydrogen can be used as a food additive, so it can be used to detect leaks in food packaging.
Nuclear Applications
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Hydrogen's isotopes have specific applications in the nuclear industry. A hydrogen atom normally has one proton and no neutrons. An atom that has one proton and one neutron is known as deuterium and is used in nuclear reactors to control nuclear reactions. Deuterium is also used in scientific studies of isotope reactions.
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