The Atomic number of hydrogen Is one, and is simply identified as H on the periodic table. Hydrogen is a unique stand-alone element, not classified with other elements. The Colourless, highly flammable gas has a large number of industrial uses such as the refinement of petroleum.
History of Hydrogen
Graph on the Activity of Hydrogen
1776 – Hydrogen was detected for the first time as a new gas
1839 – Sir William Grove invents the first hydrogen fuel cell.
1937 – Hindenburg which was powered by hydrogen, burns while landing.
1960 – Hydrogen fuel cells provide power for the Gemini and Apollo space missions.
1999 – First hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), The Toyota Prius is released in the united states.
2002 – In an effort to improve its environmental image, ExxonMobil released a statement declaring that it was investing in research into hydrogen fuel cells.
2003 – on January 28th, President Bush pledged 1.2 billion to hydrogen fuel research as an effort to find an alternative energy source.
Why do we need another energy source?
Energy or Electricity, Is vital to our way of life without it modern miracles such as airplanes and Cars will cease to exist and will become useless, Hospitals, Public centres and Schools will all shut down. Civilization as we know it will disintegrate to a former shadow of it’s previous self. So when a pile of evidence shows itself on our doorstep, claiming that our current sources (fossil fuels) are running out, it’s no small problem.
Scientific theory – Can hydrogen actually produce energy?
Since the beginning of signs of negative effects from current energy sources, mankind looks for an energy source that is clean and renewable; solution of this problem may be the most common item on our planet, something that makes up 70% of our planet – Water.[1]
Water as you may know is made of two chemicals elements, Hydrogen and oxygen. Each molecule of water is made of two hydrogen (H2) and one oxygen (O) atom resulting in the commonly recognised H20 (water). Due to the fact that the chemical bindings between the 3 atoms that make water are very stable and very strong any reaction that occurs is very intense and generates a lot of energy.
From what is said above, Hydrogen looks to be the perfect energy source, lots of energy output with no negative output, (only output is water). The only problem is that the power was known about for more than 200 years, and in these 200+ years, scientists are yet to unlock a method to extract energy this energy, rather then an already developing method of splitting water in hydrogen and oxygen (also known as nuclear power). Lately Fuel cells have been designed as a way to extract energy from the hydrogen, If the hydrogen fuel cell can be perfected, They may power our entire lives, from the million of cars to the largest of jumbo jets.
In 2003 as you may remember, American president George Bush revealed the Hydrogen fuel initiative (HFI) in the hope of making the fuel cell practical and cost effective by 2020, over the course of 8 years, over 1 billion dollars has been pledged to the fuel cell research. [2]
So what exactly is the apparent miracle of the fuel cell? Why are governments, large and small scientific communities collaborating to develop and produce them? Fuel cells generate electrical power quietly, efficiently and most importantly without pollution. Unlike power sources that fossil fuels, the only by-products of using a fuel cell are heat and water. So how does the fuel cell work?
In scientific terms, a fuel cell is a electrochemical energy conversion device. Although sounding complicated all this only means turns a chemical into another which then produces electricity, In this case the fuel cell converts hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in the middle of the process it produces electricity.
Another electrochemical energy device that we are all familiar with is the battery. A Battery has all the chemicals stored inside it, These chemicals then go onto produce electricity into the chemicals run out and the battery is commonly referred to as dead simply meaning its run out of charge.
With a fuel cell, the chemicals are constantly flow and so the fuel cell constantly produces electricity.
Fuel Cells In Depth – How do they work?
The Downside
There are 3 main problems halting the era of hydrogen fuel cells. The most simple to explain is cost. Even running into millions per fuel cell.[5] One of the reasons of this is because currently because splitting hydrogen requires a catalyst, and the best known catalyst at this time is platinium, the precious metal worth more than the gold.
The second major problem is that hydrogen in it’s pure form is rare and although the most abundant thing in our universe it is nearly always bonded with something else, such as water, and of course energy is needed to break the bonds in a process called electrolysis.
The third and possibly the killing blow for hydrogen fuel cells is the fact that more attainable and efficient technologies are already here, such as the electric car which are simply charged via a plug-in technology.
Conclusion
After re-reading the points I have made, The advantages and the disadvantages about Hydrogen, I believe Hydrogen is not going to be mankind’s perfect fuel source due to a variety of factors. Their may be many positives such as the fact that the only by-products are water and heat but the negatives are also many. But the main problem is the cost. With each fuel cell running into the millions due to the fact that the catalyst is platinum unless mankind finds another cheap alternative catalyst, Fuel cells aren’t going anywhere soon.