Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
How Is
Hydrogen
Fuel Made?
All matter is made of tiny bits called
atoms
. An atom is the smallest unit
of an element that has the chemical
properties (traits) of the element. Elements
are the building blocks of matter in the universe.
Elements combine with other elements to form different types
of matter.
Hydrogen fuel is made with the element hydrogen. It is the
most plentiful element in the universe. About 90 percent of the
atoms in the universe are hydrogen atoms. It is the material that
most stars—including our Sun—use to make energy.
Hydrogen Compounds
Hydrogen is a very light gas—even lighter than air. Because
of this, it rises up in the atmosphere. Hydrogen atoms are not
found by themselves on Earth. Instead, hydrogen is always
combined with other elements in chemical
compounds
.
Hydrogen compounds are all around us in the natural
world. They are found in coal, oil, natural gas, and animal and
plant materials. For example, natural gas contains
methane
,
which is a compound of hydrogen and carbon. One molecule
of methane has one carbon (C) atom and four hydrogen (H)
atoms. The chemical term for methane is CH
4
. In addition, 72
percent of the surface of Earth is covered with a very common
hydrogen compound—water! (The word
hydrogen
comes from
