Hydrogen
Perhaps because it makes up so much of everything we see or touch, scientists didn’t realise hydrogen was a distinct element until Henry Cavendish recognised it in 1776. Hydrogen, which contains one electron and one proton, is the simplest and most abundant of all the elements, making up of 90% of the visible universe. It is a clear, odourless gas and the lightest of all the elements in the periodic table.
Hydrogen is the fuel that stars burn in a process called fusion, a process that combines hydrogen atoms to form helium, releasing huge amounts of energy. Some scientists are working to replicate this process by colliding atomic nuclei at a very high speed to form a denser nucleus, a technique which emits photons (energy). While this is still being explored, hydrogen fuel cells are also used as a clean energy source in some vehicles. Not only is this element used to produce clean fuel, it’s also used in various other industries such as cryogenics, methanol production, metal ore reduction, and hydrogenating fats and oils (how margarine is made from vegetable oil).
The name is derived from the Latin hydro, meaning “water” and genes meaning “forming”. An apt name considering it’s found in the in almost all the molecules of living things, including us humans. This leads into one of my favorite quotes by the fantastic word-smith and cosmologist Carl Sagan.
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
-GG
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