Hydrogen
Hydrogen was the first element created after the big bang. It holds first place in the periodic table with the atomic number of one. Robert Boyle produced hydrogen gas as early as 1671 during an experiment with iron and acids. Though scientists were producing hydrogen before it was recognized as an element, Hydrogen was first included in the periodic table in 1766, by as a distinct element by Henry Cavendish. This element is the first in Mendeleeve’s Periodic Table. Its name means, “forms water”, as water is formed when hydrogen and oxygen combine. It is a gas and is the only element that can escape the gravitational forces of the earth, because it is so light. Hydrogen has an atomic weight of 1.00794 and is classified as a non-metal. Its density is 0.00008988 grams per cubic centimeter.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in our galaxy, if not the universe. Helium is the next abundant and there is ten times more hydrogen than helium. Hydrogen makes up only fifteen percent of the earth’s crust yet is part of our oceans and our air. Hydrogen is an active gas. Its molecules consist of two atoms joined together. In high temperatures they can fuse, and release large amounts of energy. Hydrogen is rarely observed in its free state on the earth, but the stars and our sun are made of almost pure hydrogen. Some estimate that hydrogen makes up three quarters of the mass of the universe.
Hydrogen has three isotopes. Hydrogen-1 is called protrium. It is the common hydrogen isotope and is the one that makes up over 99.9 percent of the hydrogen atoms that occur in nature. The isotope of hydrogen of atomic weight of 2 is called heavy hydrogen, or deuterium. This is a stable isotope that is produced by bringing one neutron in its nucleus. Deuterium makes up less than one tenth of one percent of the hydrogen atoms occurring naturally in nature. When it carries another neutron into its nucleus, deuterium is converted into a hydrogen isotope of mass number 3, called tritium. Tritium is weakly radioactive, and emits beta particles to become helium-3. Mixing these three creates hydrogen as we know it.
In homoeopathy it is used to help people who psychologically speaking never left the safety of the universal womb.
Hydrogen is used in commerce to make ammonia, when combined with nitrogen in the Haber process. It is also added as a stabilizer to oils, such as peanut butter, in a process called hydrogenation. Liquid hydrogen is used to make superconductors, and rocket fuel, when combined with oxygen.
