Related topics: fuel cell , water , photosynthesis , hydrogen storage , energy
Hydrogen
hideHydrogen (pronounced /ˈhaɪdrədʒən/) is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly flammable diatomic gas with the molecular formula H2. With an atomic weight of 1.00794 u, hydrogen is the lightest element.
Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the universe's elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly composed of hydrogen in its plasma state. Elemental hydrogen is relatively rare on Earth. Industrial production is from hydrocarbons such as methane with most being used "captively" at the production site. The two largest uses are in fossil fuel processing (e.g., hydrocracking) and ammonia production mostly for the fertilizer market. Hydrogen may be produced from water by electrolysis at substantially greater cost than production from natural gas.
The most common isotope of hydrogen is protium (name rarely used, symbol H) with a single proton and no neutrons. In ionic compounds it can take a negative charge (an anion known as a hydride and written as H−), or as a positively-charged species H+. The latter cation is written as though composed of a bare proton, but in reality, hydrogen cations in ionic compounds always occur as more complex species. Hydrogen forms compounds with most elements and is present in water and most organic compounds. It plays a particularly important role in acid-base chemistry with many reactions exchanging protons between soluble molecules. As the only neutral atom with an analytic solution to the Schrödinger equation, the study of the energetics and bonding of the hydrogen atom played a key role in the development of quantum mechanics.
Hydrogen is important in metallurgy as it can embrittle many metals, complicating the design of pipelines and storage tanks. Hydrogen is highly soluble in many rare earth and transition metals and is soluble in both nanocrystalline and amorphous metals. Hydrogen solubility in metals is influenced by local distortions or impurities in the crystal lattice.
For more information about Hydrogen, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with hydrogen
Accelerators and Light Sources of Tomorrow (Part 2: Accelerating with Light)
Dec 22, 2009 |
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Accelerators are far from achieving the highest energies their builders aspire to, but size and cost may limit the kinds of facilities funding agencies can support. In the future, new kinds of machines will ...
MO-SCI to manufacture SRNL's unique porous walled hollow glass microspheres
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Dec 17, 2009 |
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A licensing agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and specialty glass provider Mo-Sci Corporation will make SRNL's unique Porous Walled Hollow Glass Microspheres available ...
Inside the dark heart of the Eagle
Dec 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Herschel has peered inside an unseen stellar nursery and revealed surprising amounts of activity. Some 700 newly-forming stars are estimated to be crowded into filaments of dust stretching ...
Black Holes in Star Clusters stir up Time and Space (w/ Video)
Dec 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Within a decade scientists could be able to detect the merger of tens of pairs of black holes every year, according to a team of astronomers at the University of Bonn’s Argelander-Institut ...
Miracle light: Can lasers solve the energy crisis?
Dec 15, 2009 |
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Next year will mark the 50th birthday of the laser, one of the most productive and widely used mega-inventions of the last century. Scientists hope that 2010 also will see the launch of laser technology's greatest challenge: ...
Close-up photos of dying star show our sun's fate (w/ Video)
Dec 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- About 550 light-years from Earth, a star like our Sun is writhing in its death throes. Chi Cygni has swollen in size to become a red giant star so large that it would swallow every planet ...
Prussian blue linked to the origin of life
Dec 14, 2009 |
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A team of researchers from the Astrobiology Centre (INTA-CSIC) has shown that hydrogen cyanide, urea and other substances considered essential to the formation of the most basic biological molecules can be ...
Absorbing Hydrogen Fluoride Gas to Enhance Crystal Growth
Dec 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Two scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a method to control the buildup of hydrogen fluoride gas during the growth of precision crystals ...
Researchers develop cheap, easy 'kitchen chemistry' to perform formerly complex synthesis
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Dec 04, 2009 |
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A team at The Scripps Research Institute has made major strides in solving a problem that has been plaguing chemists for many years: how best to break carbon-hydrogen bonds and then to create new bonds to join molecules together. ...
Combining nanotubes and antibodies for breast cancer 'search and destroy' missions
Dec 02, 2009 |
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cylinders of carbon about a nanometer in diameter -- have been highly touted for potential applications such as ultrastrong fibers, electrical wires in molecular devices, or hydrogen storage components for ...
A light touch: Iron complexes as efficient catalysts for the light-driven extraction of hydrogen from water
Dec 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Hydrogen is a promising alternative energy carrier that can be efficiently converted into electrical energy in fuel cells. One hurdle to the introduction of sustainable hydrogen technology is the fact that ...
New hydrogen-storage method discovered
Nov 22, 2009 |
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Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have found for the first time that high pressure can be used to make a unique hydrogen-storage material. The discovery paves the way for an entirely new way to approach ...
Eco-Friendly SUV Gets a Hydrogen Mileage Boost (w/ Video)
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Driving hydrogen fueled SUVs for 431 miles per fill-up is no longer a California dream. Researchers from NREL and Toyota recently completed a 331 mile round trip drive between Torrance and ...
Glimpsing a greener future: Computer model foresees effects of alternative transportation fuels
Nov 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- It's the year 2060, and 75 percent of drivers in the Greater Los Angeles area have hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that emit only water vapor.
The Future in Two Words: Ionic Liquids
Nov 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Ionic liquids are molecular solutions that have a wide range of potential applications, including next-generation solar cells, hydrogen fuel cells and lithium batteries.
