Hydrogen, Helium, and Lithium—This Is Our Story

British spelling

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I am hydrogen (H) with atomic number 1.

By far, I am the most abundant chemical element in the universe.

I am the oldest, lightest, and most abundant element in that gargantuan area we call the universe, making up an estimated 74% of its mass.

I did not exist in the early universe because the conditions were too hot, but around 380,000 years after the universe's birth, the cooler conditions enabled me to become a true atom.

Only one proton makes up my nucleus (my centre), and one spinning electron circles my nucleus. That's the reason I am the lightest of the 118 known elements.

At room temperature, my state is a gas. Room temperature can be described as 20–22 degrees Celsius or 68–72 degrees Fahrenheit.

Atoms have different weights; the more protons and neutrons they contain, the heavier they get. Electrons have almost zero weight.

Every water molecule has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.

Every living thing on earth depends on water, without water no life of any kind would exist

Yes, I am so important to the millions of species living on our magical world.

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I am helium (He) with atomic number 2.

I am the second most abundant chemical element in the universe.

Two electrons circle my nucleus, which is composed of two protons and two neutrons.

At room temperature, my state is a gas.

Inside the fiery cores of stars is where I was born. My age is slightly less than the most abundant chemical element, hydrogen, but I still make up 25% of all the mass in the universe.

You will know me best for filling up your party balloons, but I have many other important uses, including medical technology, scientific research, and space exploration.

Being so light means that hydrogen and helium can escape into space, but there is no need to panic; the amount of gas leaving the Earth's atmosphere is minimal compared to the large quantities on Earth.

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I am lithium(Li) with atomic number 3.

I, along with hydrogen and helium, were created just after the universe's birth.

About 99% of the total mass at the beginning of the universe was hydrogen and helium; my contribution was a mere 1%.

Having three electrons, three protons, and four neutrons makes me slightly heavier than hydrogen and helium atoms.

At room temperature, my state is a solid, soft alkali metal.

I have many uses, including heat-resistant glass and ceramics, flux additives for iron and steel, and aluminium production. No doubt you will have heard my name associated with batteries.

Lithium metal and lithium-ion batteries use a large percentage of the total production of lithium, and the demand keeps growing.

The earth has an estimated 88 million metric tonnes of lithium that can be mined.

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Atoms are the basic building blocks of everything that can be seen or touched, including me, you, and every living thing on our planet.

Apart from a hydrogen atom, which contains just one proton and one spinning electron, other types of atoms are made of various amounts of protons, neutrons, and electrons.

A chemical element is a pure substance made of atoms that have the same number of protons in their nucleus, and the number of protons is known as their atomic number.

The mass of an atom is the total number of protons and neutrons combined.

To give you an idea of the size of an atom and how small they are, take a human being of 70 kilograms in weight. The total number of atoms making up that person’s body is estimated to be 7 octillion, which is a staggering 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms!

During our lives, vast numbers of atoms keep joining and leaving our bodies.

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You may find my easy-to-understand stories about the universe and life interesting and educational.

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