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
Scientists revisit 1833 hydrogen production experiment
Nov 07, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In the early 1800s, during the peak of the Industrial Revolution, modern science revolved around steam engines and other coal-powered applications. So it may seem a bit out of place that, ...
Scientists learn from nature to split water
Aug 17, 2008 |
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An international team of researchers led by Monash University has used chemicals found in plants to replicate a key process in photosynthesis paving the way to a new approach that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen ...
Low-Budget Fusion Reactor Could Generate Energy within a Decade
Aug 04, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Currently, most nuclear fusion power plants are large, expensive projects that will take decades to benefit from. But a startup company in Vancouver, Canada, called General Fusion is taking ...
Some fundamental interactions of matter found to be fundamentally different than thought
Jul 02, 2008 |
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Collisions have consequences. Everyone knows that. Whether it's between trains, planes, automobiles or atoms, there are always repercussions. But while macroscale collisions may have the most obvious effects - mangled steel, ...
Scientists identify quantum differences between light and heavy water
Aug 26, 2008 |
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Scientists know that light water (H2O) and heavy water (D2O) have similar but not identical structures. Using quantum mechanics, researchers have recently identified several differences between the two water ...
Producing hydrogen from urine
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Jul 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- You do two things at motorway services: fill up one tank and empty another. US chemists have combined refuelling your car and relieving yourself by creating a new catalyst that can extract ...
New material could speed development of hydrogen powered vehicles
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Oct 06, 2008 |
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Researchers in Greece report design of a new material that almost meets the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 2010 goals for hydrogen storage and could help eliminate a key roadblock to practical hydrogen-powered ...
Scientists Image the 'Anatomy' of a Molecule (w/ Video)
Aug 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, IBM researchers in Zurich, Switzerland, have taken a 3D image of an individual molecule. Using an atomic force microscope, the researchers constructed a "force map" of ...
Researchers Moving Closer to Creating Viable Energy From Sewage
Oct 08, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- When a newly developed technology for producing hydrogen gas from biowaste is brought to commercial use – as researchers believe it can be – then it appears the world will have plenty of energy if it can ...
Solar flare surprise
Dec 15, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Solar flares are the most powerful explosions in the solar system. Packing a punch equal to a hundred million hydrogen bombs, they obliterate everything in their immediate vicinity. Not a ...
Strange molecule in the sky cleans acid rain, scientists discover
Aug 12, 2008 |
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Researchers have discovered an unusual molecule that is essential to the atmosphere's ability to break down pollutants, especially the compounds that cause acid rain. It's the unusual chemistry facilitated ...
Catalyst for water oxidation adopted from plants: a means for energy-efficient production of hydrogen?
Aug 25, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Hydrogen will be one of the most important fuels of the future. It would be ideal to obtain hydrogen by splitting water instead of from petroleum. However, the electrolysis of water is a very ...
High-performance plasmas may make reliable, efficient fusion power a reality
Nov 02, 2009 |
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In the quest to produce nuclear fusion energy, researchers from the DIII-D National Fusion Facility have recently confirmed long-standing theoretical predictions that performance, efficiency and reliability ...
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 ...
Hydrocarbons in the deep Earth?
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 26, 2009 |
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The oil and gas that fuels our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the Earth's crust. Scientists have debated for years ...
