The Energy Evolution - Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Advances in Transportation and Power - page 3

This solar energy is the aftermath of nuclear fusion, while nuclear fission
occurs in commercial nuclear reactors. Without this energy there would
be no life, there would be no fossil fuels or wind or even elements in our
world.
Hydrogen was discovered in 1766 when the English chemist Henry
Cavendish observed what he called an inflammable air rising from a zinc-
sulfuric acid mixture. It was identified and named in the 18th century by
Antoine Lavoisier, who demonstrated that this inflammable air would
burn in air to form water. He identified it as a true element, and called
it hydrogen, which is Greek for water former. Hydrogen is the simplest,
lightest and most abundant of the 92 elements in the universe. It makes up
over 90% of the universe and 60% of the human body in the form of water.
As the most basic element, it can never be exhausted since it recycles in a
relatively short time.
Protons and electrons are the basic components of the hydrogen atom
and these atoms are the basic building blocks of the other 91 elements that
occur naturally. The atomic number of an atom equals the number of pro-
tons, hydrogen nuclei, or electrons of the element. Hydrogen with one
proton and one electron, has an atomic number of 1. Carbon has six pro-
tons and six electrons and an atomic number of 6. The proton's positive
electrical charge and the electron's negative charge have a natural attrac-
tion for each other.
Hydrogen atoms and other subatomic particles would have contin-
ued to expand away from each other from the force of the big bang, but
gravity caused these particles to cluster in large masses. As the mass in-
creased, the force of gravity increased and eventually, the force and pres-
sure became great enough for the interstellar clouds of hydrogen to col-
lapse causing the hydrogen and other particles to collide.
These collisions result in high enough temperatures of 45 million de-
grees Fahrenheit and pressures to fuse the hydrogen into helium and the
birth of a star takes place. As the star feeds on this supply of hydrogen,
four hydrogen nuclei are fused into one heavier helium nucleus.
The heavier helium atoms form a dense, hot core. When the star has
consumed most of its hydrogen, it begins to burn or fuse the helium, con-
verting it to carbon and then to oxygen.
The more massive a star is, the higher the central temperatures and
pressures are in the later stages. When the helium is consumed, the star
fuses the carbon and oxygen into heavier atoms of neon, magnesium, sili-
con and even silver and gold. In this way, all the elements of the earth