Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Depiction of a hydrogen atom showing the diameter as about twice the Bohr model radius. (Image not to scale) A hydrogen atom is an atom of the chemical element hydrogen.The electrically neutral hydrogen atom contains a single positively charged proton in the nucleus, and a single negatively charged electron bound to the nucleus by the Coulomb force.
Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest element and, at standard conditions, is a gas of diatomic molecules with the formula H 2, sometimes called dihydrogen, [11] hydrogen gas, molecular hydrogen, or simply hydrogen. It is colorless, odorless, [12] non-toxic, and highly combustible.
[2] [3] Hydrogen also forms compounds with less electronegative elements, such as metals and metalloids, where it takes on a partial negative charge. These compounds are often known as hydrides. [4] Water contains two hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to one oxygen atom, [5] and is one of the most well-studied compounds. [6]
When an atom is in an external magnetic field, spectral lines become split into three or more components; a phenomenon called the Zeeman effect. This is caused by the interaction of the magnetic field with the magnetic moment of the atom and its electrons.
Since the atomic number of hydrogen is 1, a hydrogen ion has no electrons and corresponds to a bare nucleus, consisting of a proton (and 0 neutrons for the most abundant isotope protium 1 1 H). The proton is a "bare charge" with only about 1/64,000 of the radius of a hydrogen atom, and so is extremely reactive chemically.
The number of protons is called the atomic number of that element. For example, oxygen has an atomic number of 8, meaning each oxygen atom has 8 protons in its nucleus. Atoms of the same element can have different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei, known as isotopes of the element. Two or more atoms can combine to form molecules.
Hydrogen (1 H) has three naturally occurring isotopes: 1 H, 2 H, and 3 H. 1 H and 2 H are stable, while 3 H has a half-life of 12.32(2) years. [3] [nb 1] Heavier isotopes also exist; all are synthetic and have a half-life of less than 1 zeptosecond (10 −21 s). [4] [5] Of these, 5 H is the least stable, while 7 H is the most.
A chemical element, often simply called an element, is a type of atom which has a specific number of protons in its atomic nucleus (i.e., a specific atomic number, or Z). [ 1 ] The definitive visualisation of all 118 elements is the periodic table of the elements , whose history along the principles of the periodic law was one of the founding ...