Is Hydrogen Harmful?

Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table, has the lowest atomic number and is the smallest atom. It may have been the first element that formed after the Big Bang. Hydrogen has many useful applications but can also be harmful.

Flammability

• German zeppelins used hydrogen gas to make them lighter than air.

  Hydrogen gas is extremely flammable when exposed to oxygen. The Hindenburg disaster in 1937 caused widespread fear that a tiny spark is enough to cause intense, fiery explosions when hydrogen gas is involved. Later research points to the flammable skin of the airship, not the hydrogen inside, as the cause of the disaster.

Asphyxiation

• Hydrogen gas, when inhaled, will replace the oxygen in your lungs and bloodstream, decreasing the amount of oxygen supplied to your vital organs and brain. Unconsciousness can occur at air concentrations as low as 500 parts per million, and death can occur at concentrations of 700 ppm.

Ubiquity

• Water molecules contain one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms.

  Hydrogen is in nearly everything you use on a daily basis. Water, ammonia, your body, computers, plastics and food all contain hydrogen. It's lighter than air and easy to separate from the atmosphere, which is why German zeppelins like the Hindenburg used it in the early 20th century.