Hydrogen (H), the first element of the periodic table, is a tasteless, odorless, colorless gas and the most abundant element in the universe. The sun and many other stars consist mainly of hydrogen, but on earth, where it is only ninth in abundance, most hydrogen is combined with oxygen in water and with carbon in animal and vegetable matter, coal, and petroleum. Its atom consists of a single proton and one electron, so hydrogen has an atomic number of 1.
Hydrogen was first distinguished from other inflammable gases in 1766 by the British chemist Henry Cavendish (1753-1801). The formation of water by burning the gas was observed in 1776. The name hydrogen (from the Greek hydro and genes, meaning “water former’! was proposed in 1781 by the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794). Its atomic number is 1, and its atomic mass is 1.0079. Its melting point is -259.14° C, and its boiling point, -252.87° C. Its isotopes are pro-tium (relative abundance 99.98%), deuterium, and tritium.
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