When combined with other elements, it makes all sorts of things possible – water, food, even the human body! Hydrogen may well be the original champion on earth – since it’s the oldest and most abundant element, found in all growing things and making up 75% of our entire universe.
SMALL BUT POWERFUL
A pair of hydrogen atoms creates a molecule (H2). This is the smallest molecule in the universe and is 14 times lighter than air. To give you an idea of just how small it is, 3 million hydrogen molecules can fit across the width of a human hair.
But despite being extremely small, lightweight, and odourless, this molecule packs a powerful punch! A hydrogen fuel cell takes hydrogen and oxygen and converts the chemical energy into electricity, water and heat – without other harmful emissions, such as CO2.
10 SECOND SUMMARY
Hydrogen is the oldest and most abundant element making up 75% of our entire universe. This small but powerful molecule can be used to provide everyday domestic and large scale industrial energy for the world.
Did you know?
Science fiction writer Jules Verne already had an inspiring vision of using hydrogen as a power source way back in 1874.
How can hydrogen help us avoid a climate crisis?
We all need energy to power our daily lives, and this demand continues to grow. 2019 marked a historical high for energy-related CO2 emissions. So, it’s clear: to limit global warming by reducing our CO2 emissions we need to find cleaner ways to produce, store, and use energy – we need a global energy transformation! If we put hydrogen at the core of this energy transformation, we can help reduce the world’s carbon footprint and improve air quality in cities and urban areas. It can help clean up our transport and buildings. It is also one of the only options for decarbonising high impact sectors, such as steel, refineries, and agriculture.
The future
Experts recognise that this tiny superpower molecule, when combined with other cleantech solutions, will have a positive impact on all our lives in the decades to come, and ensure we hand over a better world to the next generation.
By 2050, hydrogen could meet 18% of the world’s energy demand. That might not sound like much, but if you consider the annual reduction of CO2 (6 gigatonnes) you get a clearer picture of the immense impact this percentage can have.
Water will one day be employed as fuel, hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, it will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable.
OTHER GUIDES
At the origin of the Universe
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe. It is present on Earth in great quantities combined with other elements. Therefore, it must be extracted from these elements to obtain hydrogen gas, which has many practical applications.
Properties of the atom
Atomic mass:
1,007825 g.mol -1Atomic ray:
25 pmElectronic configuration:
1s1Crystalline structure:
hexagonal
The hydrogen molecule (H2), which is sometimes called “dihydrogen”, is the oldest and simplest molecule in our Universe. It is found in every star, including the Sun, which draws its energy from the transformation of hydrogen into helium during a thermonuclear reaction. It is made up of two hydrogen atoms, which are the first two elements to have been formed more than 13 billion years ago.
- Name: Hydrogen
- Symbol: H
- Number: 1
- Chemical series: Non-metal
- Group: 1
- Period: 1
- Block: s
Hydrogen is found in great quantities on Earth combined with other elements, such as in water and hydrocarbons, but it is barely present in our atmosphere, which contains just 0.00005%. This is why, to obtain hydrogen in the gaseous form, it must be produced through extraction from the molecules that contain it and it must be stored.
For many years, hydrogen has been used for multiple industrial applications in very diverse sectors of activity. It is mainly used to make fuel cleaner by eliminating the sulfur that is naturally found in crude oil. When hydrogen is combined with a fuel cell, it is also a source of sustainable energy, a field that is developing rapidly.
DID YOU KNOW ?
Hydrogen is the smallest and lightest molecule in the Universe. It is 50000 times smaller than the thickness of a hair and
one liter of hydrogen gas weighs 90 mg under normal conditions of pressure and temperature; this is equal to three postage stamps.
NAME: “Dihydrogen” is the scientific name of what is commonly referred to as “hydrogen”.
CHEMICAL FORMULA: H2
COMPOSITION: Two interlocking hydrogen atoms.
AGE: It is the oldest molecule in the Universe. It appeared after the Big Bang, more than 13 billion years ago.
SIZE: It is the smallest molecule that exists in the Universe.
WEIGHT: It is the lightest molecule in the Universe.
ADDRESSE: It is the most abundant molecule in the Universe and is found in the stars, like the Sun, as well as in gaseous planets, like Jupiter.
SPECIFICS: The hydrogen molecule is colorless, odorless and non-toxic.
ROLE: It is the Sun’s fuel, enabling the star to transmit heat and light to the Earth. It is also the fuel of choice for rockets and is already being used to propel electric cars that produce their own power onboard. Hydrogen is used as a reagent in many industries, including oil refining.
At the origin of the Universe
More than 13 billion years ago, just a few minutes after the Big Bang, the protons that compose the nuclei of hydrogen came into existence. At this stage in the formation of the Universe, the temperature was extremely high—close to a billion degrees.
The Universe then began a phase of expansion and cooling. After several million years, it was sufficiently cold to allow hydrogen molecules to form. These molecules gave rise to immense clouds known as “nebulas”, which initiate the formation of the stars.
A nebula was also behind the origin of the Sun about five billion years ago. Our star is mainly composed of hydrogen and helium, resulting from the thermonuclear fusion reaction that enables it to produce energy. These two elements are the lightest and the most abundant in the Universe.
The four giant gaseous planets in our solar system—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—are also mainly formed out of hydrogen.
But the Earth’s atmosphere is almost totally lacking in hydrogen because our planet’s gravitational field is not strong enough to retain these extremely light molecules. However, we do find numerous sources of hydrogen on Earth, where it is combined with other elements, in water and hydrocarbons, for example.
Learn more with the Gas Encyclopedia
Its discovery
Hydrogen was discovered in 1766 by British physicist Cavendish. It was by combining metals with strong acids that Cavendish noticed the formation of a gas that he called “inflammable air” because it was combustible. This extremely light gas was in fact hydrogen. He then noticed that burning it produced water vapor (steam).
In 1783, French chemist Lavoisier gave this light gas the name of “hydrogen”, which is Greek for “that which generates water”.
It was not until 1838 that German chemist Schönbein discovered the fuel cell effect, which enables the production of electricity out of hydrogen and oxygen. The first fuel cell model was built in a laboratory three years later by Sir William Grove, an English scientist.
Thereafter, many other experiments involving the hydrogen molecule were carried out. In 1898, Dewar successfully liquefied hydrogen by cooling it down to -252,87°C. His liquefaction process was improved on by another chemist and physicist, the Frenchman Georges Claude, who was also one of the founders of Air Liquide.
Early uses of hydrogen
One of the first uses of hydrogen in the field of transportation dates back to the 18th century, when Charles and Robert made the first manned flight in a balloon called the “hydrogen gas aerostat”. This was one of the first inventions that allowed humans to take to the skies untethered.
In 1932, Bacon resumed the study of fuel cell technology, which resulted in the first fuel cell prototype in 1953. This prototype served as a model for the fuel cell used for the Apollo-series space missions, which led to the 1969 Moon landing.
In the 20th century, hydrogen found another application in the space industry. In 1943, liquid hydrogen was tested as rocket fuel at Ohio State University. After testing proved successful, it became the fuel of choice for numerous rockets and launchers, including Ariane 5.
Today, hydrogen is one of the 21st century’s vectors of energy for clean transportation.
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