An Overview of Hydrogen essays

An Overview of Hydrogen essays Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table. It has only one electron and one energy level. Having only one proton and one electron causes it to be very light in weight. The British scientist Henry Cavendish is given credit with discovering hydrogen in 1766, but studies show that German-Swiss alchemist Paracelsus in the 16th had handled it first. It gets its name from the words hudÛr, meaning water, and gennan, meaning generate, thus giving it water generator. It was named this because of Cavendish's experiment where he combined oxygen and hydrogen. Hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas (at room temperature) and highly explosive. It if the least dense gas known to man. Only about 1.9 mg dissolves in a liter of water at 0Â ° C. Its classification is a non-metal. Hydrogen has a hexagonal crystal structure. The melting point of hydrogen is 14Â ° K and the boiling point is 20.28Â ° K. The atomic mass of hydrogen is 1.00794 amu. Because it has only one electron, it will react very quickly and, in many cases, violently. To see for yourself combine hydrogen with fluorine. Hydrogen has three isotopes. The first is H-1, Protium, which is stable. Protium makes up 98% of naturally occurring hydrogen. The second is H-2, Deuterium, which is also stable. Deuterium makes up 1.99% of naturally occurring hydrogen. The third is H-3, Tritium, which is radioactive. Tritium has a half-life of 12.3 years. Tritium makes up about 0.001% of naturally occurring hydrogen. Hydrogen has numerous uses, the most common of those are balloons, metal refining, and production of electricity. Some of those uses are dangerous. The Hindenburg is a prime example of the unstable state of hydrogen. Another example of just how dangerous hydrogen is the thermonuclear bomb. Developed under the name of the Manhattan Project during WWII, the bomb proved both useful and devastating. They are estimated at being able to kill about 75,000 people instantl...