[AT] Hydrogen

[Gene Dotson]

    Been following the energy thread and thought I would present a few ideas 
on the hydrogen ideas.

    First of all, hydrogen is a basic element and is very unstable. It 
combines chemically and readily with other basic elements, most notably 
oxygen to form water. Hydrogen does not exist on earth in its native state. 
At one time it did when there was no oxygen in our atmosphere. It was 
primalily nitrogen, and carbon dioxide at that time with small amounts of 
hydrogen. As plant life developed and started releasing oxygen from the 
oceans it immediately combined with the hydrogen forming water, a stable 
compound. As all the hydrogen was consumed the excess oxygen became a part 
of our atmosphere.

    Any student of chemistry is well aware, that to reverse any chemical 
reaction, more energy must be applied to return to the native state.

    Carbon fuels are basically stored sunlight from millions of years ago, 
basically carbohydrates which is also a stable compound. During the refining 
process we are not changing the chemistry, only seperating the basic 
properties contained within. The molecules can be rearranged to vary the 
properties of the final product, but the chemistry is still the same.

    Hydrogen does exist in our solar sysyem, most notably the sun where it 
is converted to helium by nuclear fusion. Some of the outer planets have 
hydrogen atmospheres and liquid oceans where cold enough and high 
atmospheric pressures.

                        Gene