Hydrogen Rules

Okay, I know this sounds boring, but when you think about it, hydrogen is the most important element in the periodic table of elements. It also just happens to be the first element and the simplest element to boot. And that, my friends, is what makes it so darned important.

Hydrogen has an atomic number of 1 and it consists of a single proton orbited by a single electron with no neutrons. You can't get any simpler than that. Hydrogen exits in nature primarily as a molecule consisting of two hydrogen atoms. Most gases form diatomic molecules, including nitrogen and oxygen, the two most visible other chemical gases in nature. Hydrogen is the king in the universe because it comprises 75% of the baryonic mass, the kind of mass made up of atoms.

Why is hydrogen so important? The reason is simple. Without hydrogen, stars would not have formed and, by the process of supernova, have created the higher elements, the elements that planets and we are made from. Also, hydrogen is the most important atomic part of the water molecule, which is also responsible for the creation and preservation of life.

Hydrogen at normal temperatures and pressures is colorless, odorless and non-toxic. But it is highly combustible, forming water with oxygen. Remember the Hindenburg? It was filled with hydrogen instead of the much safer helium gas.

Hydrogen exists on Earth tied up with oxygen in water. It also exists as part of many other molecules such as acids, bases, many organic compounds, as well as hydrides of metals.

Reacting metals in acid readily produce hydrogen. Another widely used method is electrolysis of water. A common method is reacting iron with steam.

In the universe, hydrogen is mostly found in stars in its atomic form. It's also present in nebula in the plasma form, which is ionic. In both cases, the hydrogen is very hot. In the core of a star, hydrogen is hot enough to fuse into helium. In the plasma form, hydrogen can be at millions of degrees K. In either case, hydrogen is very important for the formation of stars.

Now for something very cool! As I've said, hydrogen exists as a diatomic molecule with two atoms of hydrogen linked by a covalent bond. A covalent bond is one where electrons are shared by two atoms making love, but in the case of hydrogen, the two elements are gay.

But, that's not what I wanted to discuss. It turns out that molecular hydrogen exists in two isomeric forms. All atoms have nuclei that spin. In the case of diatomic hydrogen the two nuclei-protons, can spin aligned in parallel, which is called orthohydrogen. The other form has the two nuclei aligned antiparallel, which is called parahydrogen. This strange arrangement is called spin isomers. At room temperature, hydrogen gas exits in 3:1 ration of orthohydrogen to parahydrogen.

Now here is where it gets cool, literally. When hydrogen is cooled to very low temperatures, the isomeric mixture transitions go mostly parahydrogen with the release of energy in the form of heat. Strangely enough, one cannot obtain pure orthohydrogen by heating hydrogen.

So, what does that mean to the common person? Not much. This strange property of matter is only interesting to physicists, especially quantum physicists. But, the main thing to come away with is the fact that hydrogen is very important to everything we hold dear.

Thanks for reading.