Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the most abundant of all of the elements. It accounts for about 75% of the universe’s elemental mass. It is located everywhere; it is in water, air and many other locations. It is located in the air so basically hydrogen covers the entire earth. Hydrogen is a diatomic molecule since it only has one electron and needs another to complete it. Hydrogen is very important to daily life since it is in a H2O and so it is essential to life. The physical characteristics of hydrogen are that it is colorless, odorless, is an gas at room temperature, it has a freezing point of hydrogen is  -435°F and a boiling point is -423.0°F. The chemical properties of hydrogen are that it is very reactive with oxygen thus making hydrogen highly flammable at room temperature. Hydrogen is relatively nonreactive and usually needs a catalyst to start a reaction. Under extreme pressure hydrogen can act as a metal. There are many uses for hydrogen; it can be used as a reducing agent, fuel, and it can be used in heavy water reactors. Hydrogen is a very clean gas since it is like burning water, therefore is widely used as a greener solution for the common polluting gas. When producing hydrogen it is usually in its diatomic state. There are many ways to produce hydrogen; it can be produced by algae, electricity, and heat. One example of the production of hydrogen is CH4 + H2O → CO + 3 H2 + 191.7 kJ/mol. This uses a hydrocarbon and heat to produce hydrogen. Overall, hydrogen is one of the most important elements in our world.