3 Hydrogen – The fundamental concepts
„I run on Hydrogen“. To see
Hydrogen cars
, out of which no emissions are emitted and only clear
water drips out, is still seldom in our smog-laden cities. Yet there is no doubt that Hydrogen gas
presents the most interesting form of alternative energies of the future. For 1 kg of hydrogen
brings 33,33 kWh/kg onto the road. Neither petrol (12 kWh/kg) nor natural gas (max. 13,1 kWh/
kg) can keep up. Hydrogen, with the H symbol that stands for Hydrogenium (“The Water
Producer”). Many say this is the beginning of the “Hydrogen Age”. Hydrogen-Water-Generators
like the “Lourdes” were developed when the possible medicinal meaning of Hydrogen Water
came into public discussion. One speaks of HRW or “Hydrogen Rich Water”. The HRW-global
market was at approx. 20 billion
€
in 2017.
Hydrogen
is the most common element in the universe. It makes up 75% of the total mass of our
solar system.
Yet on our planet Earth it is more of a scarce good
. Only 0.12% of the total mass
consists of hydrogen. Most of it is H
2
O which has bonded as “energy-less” water in our oceans.
Water, H
2
O is hydrogen gas H
2
which has been combusted by oxygen
. This occurs, for example,
with sugar which is converted from food into energy. So hydrogen doesn’t only provide energy
for fuel cells for cars, but also for the cells in the body. The H Hydrogen atom is made up of one
positively charged nucleus, the proton, which is orbited by a negatively charged electron. The
smallest of all atoms is also called “nascent” hydrogen: That means “hydrogen in its birth phase”,
for an H-atom does not stay alone for long, it bonds with a second H-atom to make what we
usually call hydrogen,
H
2
,..
A further description for this hydrogen atom is “hydrogen radical”.
Often hydrogen gas
H
2
is confused with the
Hydrogen ion H+
. This corresponds to an H-atom
without an electron, in short it is a single proton. Positively charged hydrogen ions are the
measure of “acidity”. They occur by the splitting off of a hydroxide ion (OH
-
)
from water (H
2
O).
If
there are more hydroxide ions in an aqueous solution, it is alkaline, if there are more H+ ions
(protons), then it is acidic.
Negatively charged Hydrogen ions
(Hydride ions) theoretically also exist. Yet they are so unstable
that they only occur as compounds.
