Hydrogen is the simplest kind of atom. A few days after the big bang, hydrogen was the only kind of atom in the new universe! It has a nucleus made up of just one proton and around the nucleus is one electron which goes round and round. First hydrogen atoms in space grouped together in clumps which was called nebulae. When it is dense enough it becomes a star.
Inside the star there is lots of heat and gravity, causing all the atoms to press together. When 4 hydrogen atoms are pressed together they then form a new atom called the Helium atom. The helium atom has 2 protons, 2 newtrons, and 2 electrons. Newtrons have a little less energy than protons and with extra energy it gets shot of into space and became light and heat for us. Inside most stars in the universe, billions of hydrogen atoms are turning into helium atoms almost everyday. When stars run out of hydrogen it then becomes a red star. Not all hydrogen stays inside stars, some began spinning around the outside of the star, and then orbiting the new star. It then eventually was mixed with other atoms, and gravity gradually pulled them all together into planets. There are many hydrogen atoms on earth, but most are combined with other atoms to make molecules. They are simple so they are light, lighter than oxygen, so for example if I fill a balloon with hydrogen it will fly up to the sky.
As I said before hydrogen is lighter than oxygen so it rises. It use to be used to lift blimps off the ground, but after the hindenburg which burned and crashed, hydrogen was replaced with helium which has a lower chance of being flamable. Today we use hydrogen to elevate weather balloons that go higher than blimps, and they are so small so it is less of a risk of them exploding.
Then we have fuel. Hydrogen is very flamable when it is mixed with pure oxygen. Even though it is dangerous it is very usueful. Rockets and space ships mix pure hydrogen and oxygen to make combustion reaction. Also we use hydrogen for petroleum products, oil and gasoline. In the future maybe hydrogen will replace gasoline for cars. It is also being researched for alternative fuel for cars because when hydrogen burns it does not relase gases into the air, only water. So it could be harrnessed into auto fuel which would then help the green house gases.
And lastly the most important about hydrogen fur us are when two hydrogen atoms combine with one oxygen atom makes one molecule of water. And when hydrogen atoms combine with carbon atoms to make hydrocarbons which are what all living things are made of!
Bibliography
http://historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/chemistry/atoms/hydrogen.htm
Kennan, Mark. "How Do We Use Hydrogen?" EHow. Demand Media, 08 July 2009. Web. 21 Aug. 2012. <http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5164245_do-use-hydrogen.html>.
