Two hydrogen atoms are in a bar. One says, sadly, “I think I’ve lost my electron. . .”

“That’s terrible!” says the other. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive!”

Hydrogen has atomic number 1 and is represented by the symbol H. The name hydrogen means “water maker” in ancient Greek. It was chosen because water is a product when hydrogen is burned in air. It is the most abundant chemical element in the universe, is found in giant gaseous planets and plays a role in powering stars. Because H₂ is lighter than air, with approximately ¹⁄₁₅  the density of air, it was once widely used as a lifting gas in balloons & airships.The largest applications of H₂ are in the processing (“upgrading”) of fossil fuels and in the production of ammonia. Much research is underway to determine if we can move to a “Hydrogen Economy” to shift from fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas to hydrogen. Free hydrogen does not occur naturally in quantity and must be generated from some other energy source by steam reformation of natural gas or another method and, so, hydrogen fuel is not yet considered economical or energy-saving.

Creating the block was fun — I chose a blimp graphic to represent the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg and printed it on muslin. I used a metallic fall leaf for the explosion/fire and added beading and embroidery embellishments.