Part XI: Hydrogen

Part XI: Hydrogen, we will look at its' history and potential uses for our energy needs.

In 1766, hydrogen was detected for the first time as a new gas. Henry Cavendish had the idea to decompose vapor with a very hot iron bar. In this decompose process arose the so called Hydrogene (v. Gr. Hudoor=water, Gennaoo=generate) or waterforming material, which was translated as hydrogen.

In the world of chemistry, hydrogen is defined as H2. H2 means that a hydrogen molecule consists out of two hydrogen atoms. Hydrogen in the form of gas is very inflammable. When hydrogen comes into contact with fire, it reacts with a 'pop' with oxygen (O2) and transformes into vapour, that's why they call it waterforming material. The reaction-equation that comes with this process is that two hydrogen molecules react with one oxygen molecule and the atoms divide into two water molecules. 2H2 + O2 -> 2H2O. The water molecules can be divided again in hydrogen and oxygen. Under very high temperaturs, hydrogen can be fused into helium and there arises from this process a lot of energy. The same process takes place in the sun where the released energy disappears into space and heats the earth.

You can hardly find hydrogen in it's pure form. Mostly you find hydrogen in combination with oxygen (H2O - water), nitrogen (NH3 - ammonia) or carbon (CH4 - natural gas). For the winning of hydrogen out of these materials there is a process needed to separate the hydrogen-atoms from the other atoms. This is called a decomposition-reaction.


Hydrogen is a material which gives a lot of energy while burning. In principle, machines can work on hydrogen-energy, but you need hydrogen gas for this process. The problem is that you have to win hydrogen-gas out of a material containing hydrogen atoms. Another problem is that you cannot store the gas 'plain' in, for instance, your car because the gas is very inflammable, so you must burn it when the gas is created. The solution to this problem is the fuel-cell.. How the fuel-cell works you can read in the article about the fuelcell. More information about the kind of machinery in which hydrogen is employed in experimental form, you can read about in the article about applications.

Nowadays, hydrogen-gas is a fuel which is not used very often because the technique neccesary to generate energy out of hydrogen is very expensive.They already use hydrogen at space-travel, here the money is available. At this moment they are running tests with hydrogen-gas in vehicles. For the future, it is important to reduce te costs of this technique, maybe then it is possible to use hydrogen-gas more and more.

There are lots of applications for hydrogen as energy-source, if people really want to use it. The most important application for hydrogen is the car. Cars are very important for this new technique, because a lot of the carbondioxide (CO2) pollution is coming from the emmision of cars. If cars in the future are driving on hydrogen-gas instead of petrol, the emmision will be vapor instead of pollution with CO2. Some car companies are developing the so called 'hybrid'-vehicles. Hybrid-vehicles are cars which are driving on 'water'.

Here is a quick Timeline of Hydrogen Knowledge:
Introduction:
Hydrogen has received increased attention as a renewable and environmentally-friendly option to help meet today's energy needs. The road leading to an under­standing of hydrogen's energy potential presents a fascinating tour through scientific discovery and industrial ingenuity.
1766 Hydrogen was first identified as a distinct element by British scientist Henry Cavendish after he evolved hydrogen gas by reacting zinc metal with hydrochloric acid. In a demonstration to the Royal Society of London, Cavendish applied a spark to hydrogen gas yielding water. This discovery led to his later finding that water (H2O) is made of hydrogen and oxygen.
1783 Jacques Alexander Cesar Charles, a French physicist, launched the first hydrogen balloon flight. Known as “Charliere,” the unmanned balloon flew to an altitude of three kilometers. Only three months later, Charles himself flew in his first manned hydrogen balloon.
1788 Building on the discoveries of Cavendish, French chem­ist Antoine Lavoisier gave hydrogen its name, which was derived from the Greek words—“hydro” and “genes,” meaning “water” and “born of.”
1800 English scientists William Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle discovered that apply­ing electric current to water produced hydrogen and oxygen gases. This process was later termed “electrolysis.”
1838 The fuel cell effect, combining hydrogen and oxygen gases to produce water and an electric current, was discovered by Swiss chemist Christian Friedrich Schoenbein.
1845 Sir William Grove, an English scientist and judge, demon­strated Schoenbeinʼs discovery on a practical scale by creating a “gas battery.” He earned the title “Father of the Fuel Cell” for his achievement
1874 Jules Verne, an English author, prophetically examined the potential use of hydrogen as a fuel in his popular work of fic­tion entitled The Mysterious Island.

Tomorrow Will Be Part XII: Fusion, with Part XIII To Follow With Conclusions The Day After!!

link to wikipedia information site