Our universe is far more mysterious than we can even
imagine. Secrets of the universe are stranger than as we know them today. We
know that stars have light and the reason behind this light is the high
temperature and burning of fuel on their surface and in the cores. Everywhere
in the universe, there is one element that you can find easily and yet it is
the most important one of the existence for the universe as we know it. Among
all the elements in our periodic table, one is the cause of the natural existence
of most of the other elements. That element is the most crucial elements of all
and this element is hydrogen.
Image Source: zmescience.com
Hydrogen is the simplest element with simple atomic
structure. Hydrogen is the reason for our existence. How it is the cause of our
existence? Let me explain it to you. Stars burn hydrogen and burning of this
hydrogen cause other higher atomic structural elements to form. Hydrogen atoms
in fusion reaction on stars are fused together to form helium atoms. When a
star completely burns hydrogen then it starts burning helium. Helium atoms are
then fused together to form carbon and we know that carbon is an organic
compound.
Scientists at CERN are currently studying the conditions
created after the Big Bang. When the Universe was formed in the Big Bang, the
resultant fundamental matter was about one quarter helium, three quarters
hydrogen and a few parts-per-billion of lithium. After first flashes of the big
bang universe was very hot and dense, but when it started to cool down the
building blocks of matter like electrons and quarks were made.
A few millionths of a second later protons and neutrons were
produced. It took a very long time for electrons to be stuck in orbits around
nuclei, creating the first atoms. These atoms were mainly helium and hydrogen,
and these are still the most abundant elements in the universe. Stars fused
hydrogen atoms to form helium and after that higher atoms were started to
produce like carbon and iron. This was a little overview of hydrogen in our
universe. Hydrogen is also very important for us because it can provide energy
far more than any other source so far observed or tested. One use of hydrogen
is fusion reaction. In order to fuse two hydrogen atoms it require a huge
amount of energy and that is very high temperature. That temperature is present
on the Sun. In order to produce energy from hydrogen atoms on earth we require
a high temperature. Fusion reaction is the process that powers the main
sequence stars. In France scientists are building the first nuclear reactor
with the ability of controlled fusion reaction. This fusion reactor has been
planned to produce 500 megawatts of output power.
Current age is also known as “The Hydrogen Age”. Once we
controlled fusion reaction, then there might be enough energy for all the
people on earth to dissipate as much as they can. There are many facts about
hydrogen and its importance. Hydrogen and helium make up almost all of the
nuclear matter in the Universe. 74% of the mass is comprised by the most
plentiful element, hydrogen, and helium accounts 25%. Heavier elements comprise
less than 1% of the total. This total mass is just 4% of all the mass of the
universe and the remaining is Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
