Facts About the Element Hydrogen
The element hydrogen is the simplest of elements, consisting of one proton and one electron. It is the most abundant element in the universe, consisting of up to 75 percent of matter by mass.
Other People Are Reading
-
History
-
English chemist and physicist Henry Cavendish was the first to identify hydrogen as a distinct substance in 1776. Hydrogen was named by Antoine Lavoisier in 1783 from two Greek words, hydor and gennan, meaning "maker of water."
Identification
-
The Periodic Table symbol is H. The atomic number is 1, and the atomic weight is 1.00794. In a normal state, hydrogen is gas, and hydrogen is odorless, colorless, tasteless and nontoxic.
-
Types
-
Hydrogen can be obtained through a number of sources, including water, natural gas, wind, solar, chemical reactions, petroleum and biomass (decomposing waste products).
Benefits
-
Hydrogen is used to produce many consumer items such as soap, semiconductors, peanut butter and ammonia. It is also used in the manufacture of several fuels such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil, rocket fuel and hydrogen fuel.
Features
-
Hydrogen as a fuel burns cleaner than fuels containing hydrocarbons. Hydrogen combustion produces water. It is considered safer than gasoline, diesel or natural gas in that it has a higher self-ignition temperature.
Fun Fact
-
Although widely viewed as responsible for the Hindenburg airship disaster, hydrogen was not the main cause of death or fire in the disaster as found by a NASA investigation in 1997. Most deaths were caused by people jumping from the passenger compartment after ignition, and the fire was mostly the result of highly flammable varnish used on the outside of the balloon.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Wikimedia Commons
