HYDRO-CARBON( Hydrogen + Carbon)
HYDROGEN
Hydrogen is the simplest element known to man. Each atom of hydrogen has only one proton. It is also the most plentiful gas in the universe. Stars are made primarily of hydrogen.
The sun is basically a giant ball of hydrogen and helium gases. In the sun's core, hydrogen atoms combine to form helium atoms. This process—called fusion—gives off radiant energy.
This radiant energy sustains life on earth. It gives us light and makes plants grow. It makes the wind blow and rain fall. It is stored as chemical energy in fossil fuels. Most of the energy we use today came from the sun's radiant energy.
The sun is basically a giant ball of hydrogen and helium gases. In the sun's core, hydrogen atoms combine to form helium atoms. This process—called fusion—gives off radiant energy.
This radiant energy sustains life on earth. It gives us light and makes plants grow. It makes the wind blow and rain fall. It is stored as chemical energy in fossil fuels. Most of the energy we use today came from the sun's radiant energy.
Hydrogen gas is lighter than air and, as a result, it rises in the atmosphere. This is why hydrogen as a gas (H2) is not found by itself on earth. It is found only in compound form with other elements. Hydrogen combined with oxygen, is water (H2O). Hydrogen combined with carbon, forms different compounds such as methane (CH4), coal, and petroleum. Hydrogen is also found in all growing things—biomass. It is also an abundant element in the earth's crust.
Hydrogen has the highest energy content of any common fuel by weight(about three times more than gasoline), but the lowest energy content by volume (about four times less than gasoline). It is the lightest element, and it is a gas at normal temperature and pressure.
Hydrogen has the highest energy content of any common fuel by weight(about three times more than gasoline), but the lowest energy content by volume (about four times less than gasoline). It is the lightest element, and it is a gas at normal temperature and pressure.
HYDROGEN - AN ENERGY CARRIER
An energy carrier is a substance or system that moves energy in a usable form from one place to another. Electricity is the most well-known energy carrier. We use electricity to move the energy in coal, uranium, and other energy sources from power plants to homes and businesses. We also use electricity to move the energy in flowing water from hydropower dams to consumers. It is much easier to use electricity than the energy sources themselves.
Like electricity, hydrogen is an energy carrier and must be produced from another substance. Hydrogen is not widely used today but it has great potential as an energy carrier in the future. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of resources (water, fossil fuels, biomass) and is a byproduct of other chemical processes. Unlike electricity, large quantities of hydrogen can be easily stored to be used in the future. Hydrogen can also be used in places where it’s hard to use electricity. Hydrogen can store the energy until it’s needed and can be moved to where it’s needed.
HOW IS HYDROGEN MADE?
Since hydrogen doesn't exist on earth as a gas, we must separate it from other elements. We can separate hydrogen atoms from water, biomass, or natural gas molecules. The two most common methods for producing hydrogen are steam reforming and electrolysis (water splitting). Scientists have even discovered that some algae and bacteria give off hydrogen.
Steam reforming is currently the least expensive method of producing hydrogen and accounts for about 95 percent of the hydrogen produced in the United States. It is used in industries to separate hydrogen atoms from carbon atoms in methane(CH4). Because methane is a fossil fuel, the process of steam reforming results in greenhouse gas emissions that are linked with global warming.
Electrolysis is a process that splits hydrogen from water. It results in no emissions but it is currently a very expensive process. New technologies are being developed all the time.
Hydrogen can be produced at large central facilities or at small plants for local use. Every region of the country (and the world) has some resource that can be used to make hydrogen. Its flexibility is one of its main advantages.
USES OF HYDROGEN
About 7.8 million metric tonnes (17.6 billion pounds) of hydrogen are produced in the United States today, enough to power 20-30 million cars or 5-8 million homes. Nearly all of this hydrogen is used by industry in refining, treating metals, and processing foods.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the primary user of hydrogen as an energy fuel; it has used hydrogen for years in the space program. Liquid hydrogen fuel lifts the space shuttle into orbit. Hydrogen batteries—called fuel cells—power the shuttle’s electrical systems. The only by-product is pure water, which the crew uses as drinking water.
Hydrogen fuel cells (batteries) make electricity. They are very efficient, but expensive to build. Small fuel cells can power electric cars. Large fuel cells can provide electricity in out of the way places with no power lines.
Because of the high cost to build fuel cells, large hydrogen power plants won't be built for a while. However, fuel cells are being used in some places as a source of emergency power to hospitals and to wilderness locations. Portable fuel cells are being sold to provide longer power for laptop computers, cell phones, and military applications.
Hydrogen fuel cells (batteries) make electricity. They are very efficient, but expensive to build. Small fuel cells can power electric cars. Large fuel cells can provide electricity in out of the way places with no power lines.
Because of the high cost to build fuel cells, large hydrogen power plants won't be built for a while. However, fuel cells are being used in some places as a source of emergency power to hospitals and to wilderness locations. Portable fuel cells are being sold to provide longer power for laptop computers, cell phones, and military applications.
HYDROGEN USE IN VEHICLES
There are currently about 200 hydrogen-fueled vehicles in the United States – mostly in California. Most of these vehicles are buses and automobiles powered by electric motors. They store hydrogen gas or liquid on board and convert the hydrogen into electricity for the motor using a fuel cell. Only a few of these vehicles burn the hydrogen directly (producing almost no pollution).
Hydrogen vehicles are starting to move from the laboratory to the road. One California family has recently leased a hydrogen car for personal use. The U.S. postal service, a package delivery company, a few Florida Park rangers, and a few private utility companies are also using hydrogen vehicles. It will probably be at least 10 years, though, before you can walk into your local car dealer and drive away in an affordable hydrogen-powered car. Even then, you will need a place to refuel your hydrogen car. Currently, there are about 25 hydrogen refueling stations nationwide. This is the so-called “chicken and egg” problem that hydrogen developers are working hard to solve. Namely: who will buy hydrogen cars if there are no refueling stations? And who will pay to build a refueling station if there are no cars and customers? One possible solution is to eliminate refueling stations entirely. Automobile manufacturers have already designed a refrigerator-sized hydrogen generator for your garage that works off electricity. Consumers would simply refill their cars with hydrogen each night while it is parked.
Hydrogen has great potential as an environmentally clean energy fuel and as a way to reduce reliance on imported energy sources. Before hydrogen can play a bigger energy role and become a widely used alternative to gasoline, many new facilities and systems must be built. We will need facilities to make hydrogen, store it, and move it. We will need economical fuel cells. And consumers will need the technology and the education to safely use it.
The goal of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Program is for hydrogen to produce ten percent of our energy by the year 2030. Hydrogen could provide clean, renewable energy for the future.
The goal of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Program is for hydrogen to produce ten percent of our energy by the year 2030. Hydrogen could provide clean, renewable energy for the future.
Hydrogen (from the Greek word ὑδρογόνο= that makes water) (IPA: /ˈhaɪdrə(ʊ)dʒən/), is a chemical element that has the symbol H and an atomic number of 1. At standard temperature and pressure it is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly flammable diatomic gas (H2). With an atomic mass of 1.00794 g/mol, hydrogen is the lightest element.
Hydrogen is the most abundant of the chemical elements, constituting roughly 75% of the universe's elemental mass.[1] Stars in the main sequence are mainly composed of hydrogen in its plasma state. Elemental hydrogen is relatively rare on Earth, and is industrially produced from hydrocarbons such as methane, after which most elemental hydrogen is used "captively" (meaning locally at the production site), with the largest markets about equally divided between fossil fuel upgrading (e.g., hydrocracking) and in ammonia production (mostly for the fertilizer market). Hydrogen may be produced from water using the process of electrolysis, but this process is presently significantly more expensive commercially than hydrogen production from natural gas.
The most common naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen is known as protium, has a single proton and no neutrons. In ionic compounds it can take on either a positive charge (becoming a cation composed of a bare proton) or a negative charge (becoming an anion known as a hydride). Hydrogen can form compounds with most elements and is present in water and most organic compounds. It plays a particularly important role in acid-base chemistry, in which many reactions involve the exchange of protons between soluble molecules. As the only neutral atom for which the Schrödinger equation can be solved analytically, study of the energetics and bonding of the hydrogen atom has played a key role in the development of quantum mechanics
History of Hydrogen
Discovery of H2 Hydrogen gas, H2, was first artificially produced and formally described by T. Von Hohenheim (also known as Paracelsus, 1493 – 1541) via the mixing of metals with strong acids. He was unaware that the flammable gas produced by this chemical reaction was a new chemical element. In 1671, Robert Boyle rediscovered and described the reaction between iron filings and dilute acids, which results in the production of hydrogen gas.[4] In 1766, Henry Cavendish was the first to recognize hydrogen gas as a discrete substance, by identifying the gas from a metal-acid reaction as "inflammable air" and further finding that the gas produces water when burned. Cavendish had stumbled on hydrogen when experimenting with acids and mercury. Although he wrongly assumed that hydrogen was a liberated component of the mercury rather than the acid, he was still able to accurately describe several key properties of hydrogen. He is usually given credit for its discovery as an element. In 1783, Antoine Lavoisier gave the element the name of hydrogen when he (with Laplace) reproduced Cavendish's finding that water is produced when hydrogen is burned. Lavoisier's name for the gas won out.
One of the first uses of H2 was for balloons (or blimps). The H2 was obtained by reacting sulphuric acid and metallic iron. Infamously, H2 was used in the Hindenburg airship that was destroyed in a midair fire. The highly explosive hydrogen (H2) was later replaced in balloons by the unreactive Helium (He).
One of the first uses of H2 was for balloons (or blimps). The H2 was obtained by reacting sulphuric acid and metallic iron. Infamously, H2 was used in the Hindenburg airship that was destroyed in a midair fire. The highly explosive hydrogen (H2) was later replaced in balloons by the unreactive Helium (He).
Role in history of quantum theory
Because of its relatively simple atomic structure, consisting only of a proton and an electron, the hydrogen atom, together with the spectrum of light produced from it or absorbed by it, has been central to the development of the theory of atomic structure. Furthermore, the corresponding simplicity of the hydrogen molecule and the corresponding cation H2+ allowed fuller understanding of the nature of the chemical bond, which followed shortly after the quantum mechanical treatment of the hydrogen atom had been developed in the mid-1920s.
One of the first quantum effects to be explicitly noticed (but not understood at the time) was a Maxwell observation involving hydrogen, half a century before full quantum mechanical theory arrived. Maxwell observed that the specific heat capacity of H2 unaccountably departs from that of a diatomic gas below room temperature and begins to increasingly resemble that of a monatomic gas at cryogenic temperatures. According to quantum theory, this behavior arises from the spacing of the (quantized) rotational energy levels, which are particularly wide-spaced in H2 because of its low mass. These widely spaced levels inhibit equal partition of heat energy into rotational motion in hydrogen at low temperatures. Diatomic gases composed of heavier atoms do not have such widely spaced levels and do not exhibit the same effect.
One of the first quantum effects to be explicitly noticed (but not understood at the time) was a Maxwell observation involving hydrogen, half a century before full quantum mechanical theory arrived. Maxwell observed that the specific heat capacity of H2 unaccountably departs from that of a diatomic gas below room temperature and begins to increasingly resemble that of a monatomic gas at cryogenic temperatures. According to quantum theory, this behavior arises from the spacing of the (quantized) rotational energy levels, which are particularly wide-spaced in H2 because of its low mass. These widely spaced levels inhibit equal partition of heat energy into rotational motion in hydrogen at low temperatures. Diatomic gases composed of heavier atoms do not have such widely spaced levels and do not exhibit the same effect.
a giant region of ionized hydrogen in the Triangulum Galaxy
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, making up 75% of normal matter by mass and over 90% by number of atoms.[6] This element is found in great abundance in stars and gas giant planets. Molecular clouds of H2 are associated with star formation. Hydrogen plays a vital role in powering stars through proton-proton reaction nuclear fusion.
Throughout the universe, hydrogen is mostly found in the atomic and plasma states whose properties are quite different from molecular hydrogen. As a plasma, hydrogen's electron and proton are not bound together, resulting in very high electrical conductivity and high emissivity (producing the light from the sun and other stars). The charged particles are highly influenced by magnetic and electric fields. For example, in the solar wind they interact with the Earth's magnetosphere giving rise to Birkeland currents and the aurora. Hydrogen is found in the neutral atomic state in the Interstellar medium. The large amount of neutral hydrogen found in the damped Lyman-alpha systems is thought to dominate the cosmological baryonic density of the Universe up to redshift z=4.[7]
Under ordinary conditions on Earth, elemental hydrogen exists as the diatomic gas, H2 (for data see table). However, hydrogen gas is very rare in the Earth's atmosphere (1 ppm by volume) because of its light weight, which enables it to escape from Earth's gravity more easily than heavier gases. Although H atoms and H2 molecules are abundant in interstellar space, they are difficult to generate, concentrate, and purify on Earth. Still, hydrogen is the third most abundant element on Earth.[8] Most of the Earth's hydrogen is in the form of chemical compounds such as hydrocarbons and water.[9] Hydrogen gas is produced by some bacteria and algae and is a natural component of flatus. Methane is a hydrogen source of increasing importance.
The hydrogen atom
Electron energy levels
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, making up 75% of normal matter by mass and over 90% by number of atoms.[6] This element is found in great abundance in stars and gas giant planets. Molecular clouds of H2 are associated with star formation. Hydrogen plays a vital role in powering stars through proton-proton reaction nuclear fusion.
Throughout the universe, hydrogen is mostly found in the atomic and plasma states whose properties are quite different from molecular hydrogen. As a plasma, hydrogen's electron and proton are not bound together, resulting in very high electrical conductivity and high emissivity (producing the light from the sun and other stars). The charged particles are highly influenced by magnetic and electric fields. For example, in the solar wind they interact with the Earth's magnetosphere giving rise to Birkeland currents and the aurora. Hydrogen is found in the neutral atomic state in the Interstellar medium. The large amount of neutral hydrogen found in the damped Lyman-alpha systems is thought to dominate the cosmological baryonic density of the Universe up to redshift z=4.[7]
Under ordinary conditions on Earth, elemental hydrogen exists as the diatomic gas, H2 (for data see table). However, hydrogen gas is very rare in the Earth's atmosphere (1 ppm by volume) because of its light weight, which enables it to escape from Earth's gravity more easily than heavier gases. Although H atoms and H2 molecules are abundant in interstellar space, they are difficult to generate, concentrate, and purify on Earth. Still, hydrogen is the third most abundant element on Earth.[8] Most of the Earth's hydrogen is in the form of chemical compounds such as hydrocarbons and water.[9] Hydrogen gas is produced by some bacteria and algae and is a natural component of flatus. Methane is a hydrogen source of increasing importance.
The hydrogen atom
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, making up 75% of normal matter by mass and over 90% by number of atoms.[6] This element is found in great abundance in stars and gas giant planets. Molecular clouds of H2 are associated with star formation. Hydrogen plays a vital role in powering stars through proton-proton reaction nuclear fusion.
Throughout the universe, hydrogen is mostly found in the atomic and plasma states whose properties are quite different from molecular hydrogen. As a plasma, hydrogen's electron and proton are not bound together, resulting in very high electrical conductivity and high emissivity (producing the light from the sun and other stars). The charged particles are highly influenced by magnetic and electric fields. For example, in the solar wind they interact with the Earth's magnetosphere giving rise to Birkeland currents and the aurora. Hydrogen is found in the neutral atomic state in the Interstellar medium. The large amount of neutral hydrogen found in the damped Lyman-alpha systems is thought to dominate the cosmological baryonic density of the Universe up to redshift z=4.[7]
Under ordinary conditions on Earth, elemental hydrogen exists as the diatomic gas, H2 (for data see table). However, hydrogen gas is very rare in the Earth's atmosphere (1 ppm by volume) because of its light weight, which enables it to escape from Earth's gravity more easily than heavier gases. Although H atoms and H2 molecules are abundant in interstellar space, they are difficult to generate, concentrate, and purify on Earth. Still, hydrogen is the third most abundant element on Earth.[8] Most of the Earth's hydrogen is in the form of chemical compounds such as hydrocarbons and water.[9] Hydrogen gas is produced by some bacteria and algae and is a natural component of flatus. Methane is a hydrogen source of increasing importance.
The hydrogen atom
Electron energy levels
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, making up 75% of normal matter by mass and over 90% by number of atoms.[6] This element is found in great abundance in stars and gas giant planets. Molecular clouds of H2 are associated with star formation. Hydrogen plays a vital role in powering stars through proton-proton reaction nuclear fusion.
Throughout the universe, hydrogen is mostly found in the atomic and plasma states whose properties are quite different from molecular hydrogen. As a plasma, hydrogen's electron and proton are not bound together, resulting in very high electrical conductivity and high emissivity (producing the light from the sun and other stars). The charged particles are highly influenced by magnetic and electric fields. For example, in the solar wind they interact with the Earth's magnetosphere giving rise to Birkeland currents and the aurora. Hydrogen is found in the neutral atomic state in the Interstellar medium. The large amount of neutral hydrogen found in the damped Lyman-alpha systems is thought to dominate the cosmological baryonic density of the Universe up to redshift z=4.[7]
Under ordinary conditions on Earth, elemental hydrogen exists as the diatomic gas, H2 (for data see table). However, hydrogen gas is very rare in the Earth's atmosphere (1 ppm by volume) because of its light weight, which enables it to escape from Earth's gravity more easily than heavier gases. Although H atoms and H2 molecules are abundant in interstellar space, they are difficult to generate, concentrate, and purify on Earth. Still, hydrogen is the third most abundant element on Earth.[8] Most of the Earth's hydrogen is in the form of chemical compounds such as hydrocarbons and water.[9] Hydrogen gas is produced by some bacteria and algae and is a natural component of flatus. Methane is a hydrogen source of increasing importance.
The hydrogen atom
Depiction of a hydrogen atom showing the diameter as about twice the Bohr model radius. (Image not to scale)
The ground state energy level of the electron in a hydrogen atom is 13.6 eV, which is equivalent to an ultraviolet photon of roughly 92 nm.
The energy levels of hydrogen can be calculated fairly accurately using the Bohr model of the atom, which conceptualizes the electron as "orbiting" the proton in analogy to the Earth's orbit of the sun. However, the electromagnetic force attracts electrons and protons to one another, while planets and celestial objects are attracted to each other by gravity. Because of the discretization of angular momentum postulated in early quantum mechanics by Bohr, the electron in the Bohr model can only occupy certain allowed distances from the proton, and therefore only certain allowed energies. A more accurate description of the hydrogen atom comes from a purely quantum mechanical treatment that uses the Schrödinger equation or the equivalent Feynman path integral formulation to calculate the probability density of the electron around the proton. Treating the electron as a matter wave reproduces chemical results such as shape of the hydrogen atom more naturally than the particle-based Bohr model, although the energy and spectral results are the same. Modeling the system fully using the reduced mass of nucleus and electron (as one would do in the two-body problem in celestial mechanics) yields an even better formula for the hydrogen spectra, and also the correct spectral shifts for the isotopes deuterium and tritium. Very small adjustments in energy levels in the hydrogen atom, which correspond to actual spectral effects, may be determined by using a full quantum mechanical theory which corrects for the effects of special relativity (see Dirac equation), and by accounting for quantum effects arising from production of virtual particles in the vacuum and as a result of electric fields (see quantum electrodynamics).
In hydrogen gas, the electronic ground state energy level is split into hyperfine structure levels because of magnetic effects of the quantum mechanical spin of the electron and proton. The energy of the atom when the proton and electron spins are aligned is higher than when they are not aligned. The transition between these two states can occur through emission of a photon through a magnetic dipole transition. Radio telescopes can detect the radiation produced in this process, which is used to map the distribution of hydrogen in the galaxy.
Isotopes Isotopes
The ground state energy level of the electron in a hydrogen atom is 13.6 eV, which is equivalent to an ultraviolet photon of roughly 92 nm.
The energy levels of hydrogen can be calculated fairly accurately using the Bohr model of the atom, which conceptualizes the electron as "orbiting" the proton in analogy to the Earth's orbit of the sun. However, the electromagnetic force attracts electrons and protons to one another, while planets and celestial objects are attracted to each other by gravity. Because of the discretization of angular momentum postulated in early quantum mechanics by Bohr, the electron in the Bohr model can only occupy certain allowed distances from the proton, and therefore only certain allowed energies. A more accurate description of the hydrogen atom comes from a purely quantum mechanical treatment that uses the Schrödinger equation or the equivalent Feynman path integral formulation to calculate the probability density of the electron around the proton. Treating the electron as a matter wave reproduces chemical results such as shape of the hydrogen atom more naturally than the particle-based Bohr model, although the energy and spectral results are the same. Modeling the system fully using the reduced mass of nucleus and electron (as one would do in the two-body problem in celestial mechanics) yields an even better formula for the hydrogen spectra, and also the correct spectral shifts for the isotopes deuterium and tritium. Very small adjustments in energy levels in the hydrogen atom, which correspond to actual spectral effects, may be determined by using a full quantum mechanical theory which corrects for the effects of special relativity (see Dirac equation), and by accounting for quantum effects arising from production of virtual particles in the vacuum and as a result of electric fields (see quantum electrodynamics).
In hydrogen gas, the electronic ground state energy level is split into hyperfine structure levels because of magnetic effects of the quantum mechanical spin of the electron and proton. The energy of the atom when the proton and electron spins are aligned is higher than when they are not aligned. The transition between these two states can occur through emission of a photon through a magnetic dipole transition. Radio telescopes can detect the radiation produced in this process, which is used to map the distribution of hydrogen in the galaxy.
Isotopes Isotopes
Protium, the most common isotope of hydrogen, has one proton and one electron. Unique among all stable isotopes, it has no neutrons. (see diproton for discussion of why others do not exist
Hydrogen has three naturally occurring isotopes, denoted 1H, 2H, and 3H. Other, highly unstable nuclei (4H to 7H) have been synthesized in the laboratory but not observed in nature.[10][11]
1H is the most common hydrogen isotope with an abundance of more than 99.98%. Because the nucleus of this isotope consists of only a single proton, it is given the descriptive but rarely used formal name protium.
2H, the other stable hydrogen isotope, is known as deuterium and contains one proton and one neutron in its nucleus. Deuterium comprises 0.0026 – 0.0184% of all hydrogen on Earth. It is not radioactive, and does not represent a significant toxicity hazard. Water enriched in molecules that include deuterium instead of normal hydrogen is called heavy water. Deuterium and its compounds are used as a non-radioactive label in chemical experiments and in solvents for 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Heavy water is used as a neutron moderator and coolant for nuclear reactors. Deuterium is also a potential fuel for commercial nuclear fusion.
3H is known as tritium and contains one proton and two neutrons in its nucleus. It is radioactive, decaying into Helium-3 through beta decay with a half-life of 12.32 years.[9] Small amounts of tritium occur naturally because of the interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric gases; tritium has also been released during nuclear weapons tests. It is used in nuclear fusion reactions, as a tracer in isotope geochemistry, and specialized in self-powered lighting devices. Tritium was once routinely used in chemical and biological labeling experiments as a radiolabel (this has become less common).
Hydrogen is the only element that has different names for its isotopes in common use today. (During the early study of radioactivity, various heavy radioactive isotopes were given names, but such names are no longer used). The symbols D and T (instead of 2H and 3H) are sometimes used for deuterium and tritium, but the corresponding symbol P is already in use for phosphorus and thus is not available for protium. IUPAC states that while this use is common it is not preferred.
Elemental molecular forms
Hydrogen has three naturally occurring isotopes, denoted 1H, 2H, and 3H. Other, highly unstable nuclei (4H to 7H) have been synthesized in the laboratory but not observed in nature.[10][11]
1H is the most common hydrogen isotope with an abundance of more than 99.98%. Because the nucleus of this isotope consists of only a single proton, it is given the descriptive but rarely used formal name protium.
2H, the other stable hydrogen isotope, is known as deuterium and contains one proton and one neutron in its nucleus. Deuterium comprises 0.0026 – 0.0184% of all hydrogen on Earth. It is not radioactive, and does not represent a significant toxicity hazard. Water enriched in molecules that include deuterium instead of normal hydrogen is called heavy water. Deuterium and its compounds are used as a non-radioactive label in chemical experiments and in solvents for 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Heavy water is used as a neutron moderator and coolant for nuclear reactors. Deuterium is also a potential fuel for commercial nuclear fusion.
3H is known as tritium and contains one proton and two neutrons in its nucleus. It is radioactive, decaying into Helium-3 through beta decay with a half-life of 12.32 years.[9] Small amounts of tritium occur naturally because of the interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric gases; tritium has also been released during nuclear weapons tests. It is used in nuclear fusion reactions, as a tracer in isotope geochemistry, and specialized in self-powered lighting devices. Tritium was once routinely used in chemical and biological labeling experiments as a radiolabel (this has become less common).
Hydrogen is the only element that has different names for its isotopes in common use today. (During the early study of radioactivity, various heavy radioactive isotopes were given names, but such names are no longer used). The symbols D and T (instead of 2H and 3H) are sometimes used for deuterium and tritium, but the corresponding symbol P is already in use for phosphorus and thus is not available for protium. IUPAC states that while this use is common it is not preferred.
Elemental molecular forms
There are two different types of diatomic hydrogen molecules that differ by the relative spin of their nuclei.[12] In the orthohydrogen form, the spins of the two protons are parallel and form a triplet state; in the parahydrogen form the spins are antiparallel and form a singlet. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen gas contains about 25% of the para form and 75% of the ortho form, also known as the "normal form".[13] The equilibrium ratio of orthohydrogen to parahydrogen depends on temperature, but since the ortho form is an excited state and has a higher energy than the para form, it is unstable and cannot be purified. At very low temperatures, the equilibrium state is composed almost exclusively of the para form. The physical properties of pure parahydrogen differ slightly from those of the normal form.[14] The ortho/para distinction also occurs in other hydrogen-containing molecules or functional groups, such as water and methylene.
The uncatalyzed interconversion between para and ortho H2 increases with increasing temperature; thus rapidly condensed H2 contains large quantities of the high-energy ortho form that convert to the para form very slowly.[15] The ortho/para ratio in condensed H2 is an important consideration in the preparation and storage of liquid hydrogen: the conversion from ortho to para is exothermic and produces enough heat to evaporate the hydrogen liquid, leading to loss of the liquefied material. Catalysts for the ortho-para interconversion, such as iron compounds, are used during hydrogen cooling.[16]
A molecular form called protonated molecular hydrogen, or H3+, is found in the interstellar medium (ISM), where it is generated by ionization of molecular Hydrogen from cosmic rays. It has also been observed in the upper atmosphere of the planet Jupiter. This molecule is relatively stable in the environment of outer space due to the low temperature and density. H3+ is one of the most abundant ions in the Universe, and it plays a notable role in the chemistry of the ISM.
Chemical and physical properties
The solubility and adsorption characteristics of hydrogen with various metals are very important in metallurgy (as many metals can suffer hydrogen embrittlement) and in developing safe ways to store it for use as a fuel. Hydrogen is highly soluble in many compounds composed of rare earth metals and transition metals[18] and can be dissolved in both crystalline and amorphous metals.[19] Hydrogen solubility in metals is influenced by local distortions or impurities in the metal crystal lattice.[
Combustion
The solubility and adsorption characteristics of hydrogen with various metals are very important in metallurgy (as many metals can suffer hydrogen embrittlement) and in developing safe ways to store it for use as a fuel. Hydrogen is highly soluble in many compounds composed of rare earth metals and transition metals[18] and can be dissolved in both crystalline and amorphous metals.[19] Hydrogen solubility in metals is influenced by local distortions or impurities in the metal crystal lattice.
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