Facts About Hydrogen for Children
When you are teaching the periodic table of elements to children, catching their interest with fun facts will help them retain the lesson. Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table. It is also the simplest element, containing only one proton and one electron. The following fun facts about hydrogen will help children remember and appreciate the wonderful aspects of these remarkable element.
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Size
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Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table of elements because it is the simplest and smallest element. One atom of hydrogen has a diameter of 0.12 nanometers. To put this into perspective, a human hair is 100,000 nanometers wide, meaning that 833,333 atoms of hydrogen could fit across the width of a single human hair.
Elements and Compounds
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Hydrogen can bond with other elements to form compounds. The most prominent example is when two hydrogen atoms bond with one oxygen atom to form H2O, or water. Hydrogen is also one of the most common elements found in the human body. When hydrogen bonds with chlorine it forms hydrochloric acid (HCl), a caustic substance that can burn the skin.
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Uses
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Hydrogen is an alternative source of energy; it is cheap compared to petroleum. Hydrogen can be used to power cars. It was once used in dirigibles because hydrogen is lighter than air. When hydrogen is burned, the by-product is water vapor rather than harmful chemicals and carbon dioxide fumes.
Surface Tension
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When two hydrogen atoms bond with an oxygen atom, the electrons are shared unequally; this creates a bipolar molecule, which in turn creates surface tension when the positive and negative poles of each water molecule are attracted to the positive and negative poles of neighboring water molecules. Water gliders take advantage of this surface tension to move across the surface of water in lakes and streams.
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