Hydrogen emerged from that primordial furnace in far larger quantities than any other element, and even today it dominates the cosmos.
Hydrogen is the main ingredient of stars, including over 90 per cent of our Sun, and a thin mist of it is scattered through space.
About 60 per cent of the atoms in our bodies are hydrogen, and of course it is one of the two key ingredients in water.
Hydrogen is the simplest atom: just a single proton orbited by a single electron. It is odourless, colourless and very energetic.
Hydrogen makes an excellent fuel. You can heat your home or cook a meal by burning hydrogen, the same way many homes burn natural gas. One kilogram of hydrogen can release enough energy to drive a typical car for 130km or provide two days of heating for an average household. And of course, when hydrogen is burned in air, the only emission is water.
Or you can convert its energy into electricity, in what’s called a fuel cell. It performs essentially the same chemistry as a flame: combining hydrogen with oxygen to make water and release energy; except that in a fuel cell the energy goes into electricity instead of heat.
A big bonus for fuel cells is that they are typically very efficient. About 60 per cent of the energy in hydrogen can be converted to electricity to drive a car, compared to only 20 per cent of the energy in petrol. So, hydrogen vehicles can be three times more efficient.
Hydrogen is now set to play a crucial role helping us to tackle the climate crisis and wean the world off greenhouse gas emissions. In a net-zero CO2 world, studies estimate that hydrogen could account for up to a quarter of our overall energy needs. Yet, despite its central role in our carbon-free future, a number of myths about hydrogen persist.
Hydrogen is the simplest atom: just a single proton orbited by a single electron. It is odourless, colourless and very energetic.
Hydrogen makes an excellent fuel. You can heat your home or cook a meal by burning hydrogen, the same way many homes burn natural gas. One kilogram of hydrogen can release enough energy to drive a typical car for 130km or provide two days of heating for an average household. And of course, when hydrogen is burned in air, the only emission is water.
Or you can convert its energy into electricity, in what’s called a fuel cell. It performs essentially the same chemistry as a flame: combining hydrogen with oxygen to make water and release energy; except that in a fuel cell the energy goes into electricity instead of heat.
A big bonus for fuel cells is that they are typically very efficient. About 60 per cent of the energy in hydrogen can be converted to electricity to drive a car, compared to only 20 per cent of the energy in petrol. So, hydrogen vehicles can be three times more efficient.
Hydrogen is now set to play a crucial role helping us to tackle the climate crisis and wean the world off greenhouse gas emissions. In a net-zero CO2 world, studies estimate that hydrogen could account for up to a quarter of our overall energy needs. Yet, despite its central role in our carbon-free future, a number of myths about hydrogen persist.
Dangerous and dirty: 7 myths about hydrogen power debunked - Science Focus - link
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