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Gas giant

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A gas giant is a giant planet composed mainly of hydrogen and helium . Jupiter and Saturn are the gas giants of the Solar System . The term "gas giant" was originally synonymous with " giant planet ". However, in the 1990s, it became known that Uranus and Neptune are really a distinct class of giant planets, being composed mainly of heavier volatile substances (which are referred to as " ices "). For this reason, Uranus and Neptune are now often classified in the separate category of ice giants .

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100-482: Jupiter and Saturn consist mostly of elements such as hydrogen and helium, with heavier elements making up between 3 and 13 percent of their mass. They are thought to consist of an outer layer of compressed molecular hydrogen surrounding a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen , with probably a molten rocky core inside. The outermost portion of their hydrogen atmosphere contains many layers of visible clouds that are mostly composed of water (despite earlier consensus that there

200-478: A coolant in the rotor and the stator in 1937 at Dayton , Ohio, owned by the Dayton Power & Light Co. This was justified by the high thermal conductivity and very low viscosity of hydrogen gas, thus lower drag than air. This is the most common coolant used for generators 60 MW and larger; smaller generators are usually air-cooled . The nickel–hydrogen battery was used for the first time in 1977 aboard

300-465: A nucleus which is usually composed of one proton. That is why H is often called a proton. This species is central to discussion of acids . Under the Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory , acids are proton donors, while bases are proton acceptors. A bare proton, H , cannot exist in solution or in ionic crystals because of its strong attraction to other atoms or molecules with electrons. Except at

400-494: A stoichiometric quantity of hydrogen at the anode. For hydrides other than group 1 and 2 metals, the term is quite misleading, considering the low electronegativity of hydrogen. An exception in group 2 hydrides is BeH 2 , which is polymeric. In lithium aluminium hydride , the [AlH 4 ] anion carries hydridic centers firmly attached to the Al(III). Although hydrides can be formed with almost all main-group elements,

500-460: A South Tropical Disturbance. Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) is an elliptical shaped anticyclone, occurring at 22 degrees below the equator, in Jupiter's southern hemisphere. The largest anticyclonic storm (~16,000 km) in our solar system, little is known about its internal depth and structure. Visible imaging and cloud-tracking from in-situ observation determined the velocity and vorticity of

600-437: A fire. Anaerobic oxidation of iron by the protons of water at high temperature can be schematically represented by the set of following reactions: Many metals such as zirconium undergo a similar reaction with water leading to the production of hydrogen. François Isaac de Rivaz built the first de Rivaz engine , an internal combustion engine powered by a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen in 1806. Edward Daniel Clarke invented

700-427: A height of 800 km (500 mi) above the storm where they break in the upper atmosphere, converting wave energy into heat. This creates a region of upper atmosphere that is 1,600 K (1,330 °C; 2,420 °F)—several hundred kelvins warmer than the rest of the planet at this altitude. The effect is described as like "crashing [...] ocean waves on a beach". Careful tracking of atmospheric features revealed

800-486: A molar basis ) because of its light weight, which enables it to escape the atmosphere more rapidly than heavier gases. However, hydrogen is the third most abundant element on the Earth's surface, mostly in the form of chemical compounds such as hydrocarbons and water. Great Red Spot The Great Red Spot is a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter , producing an anticyclonic storm that

900-448: A monatomic gas at cryogenic temperatures. According to quantum theory, this behavior arises from the spacing of the (quantized) rotational energy levels, which are particularly wide-spaced in H 2 because of its low mass. These widely spaced levels inhibit equal partition of heat energy into rotational motion in hydrogen at low temperatures. Diatomic gases composed of heavier atoms do not have such widely spaced levels and do not exhibit

1000-545: A partial negative charge. These compounds are often known as hydrides . Hydrogen forms many compounds with carbon called the hydrocarbons , and even more with heteroatoms that, due to their association with living things, are called organic compounds . The study of their properties is known as organic chemistry and their study in the context of living organisms is called biochemistry . By some definitions, "organic" compounds are only required to contain carbon. However, most of them also contain hydrogen, and because it

1100-477: A partial positive charge. When bonded to a more electronegative element, particularly fluorine , oxygen , or nitrogen , hydrogen can participate in a form of medium-strength noncovalent bonding with another electronegative element with a lone pair, a phenomenon called hydrogen bonding that is critical to the stability of many biological molecules. Hydrogen also forms compounds with less electronegative elements, such as metals and metalloids , where it takes on

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1200-412: A planet with a rocky core that has accumulated a thick envelope of hydrogen, helium and other volatiles, having as result a total radius between 1.7 and 3.9 Earth-radii. The smallest known extrasolar planet that is likely a "gas planet" is Kepler-138d , which has the same mass as Earth but is 60% larger and therefore has a density that indicates a thick gas envelope. A low-mass gas planet can still have

1300-405: A proton and an electron, the hydrogen atom , together with the spectrum of light produced from it or absorbed by it, has been central to the development of the theory of atomic structure. Furthermore, study of the corresponding simplicity of the hydrogen molecule and the corresponding cation H + 2 brought understanding of the nature of the chemical bond , which followed shortly after

1400-477: A radius resembling that of a gas giant if it has the right temperature. Heat that is funneled upward by local storms is a major driver of the weather on gas giants. Much, if not all, of the deep heat escaping the interior flows up through towering thunderstorms. These disturbances develop into small eddies that eventually form storms such as the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. On Earth and Jupiter, lightning and

1500-538: A serious incident. Hydrogen-lifted airships were used as observation platforms and bombers during the war. The first non-stop transatlantic crossing was made by the British airship R34 in 1919. Regular passenger service resumed in the 1920s and the discovery of helium reserves in the United States promised increased safety, but the U.S. government refused to sell the gas for this purpose. Therefore, H 2

1600-440: A similar experiment with iron and sulfuric acid. However, in all likelihood, "sulfureous" should here be understood to mean "combustible". In 1766, Henry Cavendish was the first to recognize hydrogen gas as a discrete substance, by naming the gas from a metal-acid reaction "inflammable air". He speculated that "inflammable air" was in fact identical to the hypothetical substance " phlogiston " and further finding in 1781 that

1700-498: A smaller portion comes from energy-intensive methods such as the electrolysis of water . Its main industrial uses include fossil fuel processing, such as hydrocracking , and ammonia production , with emerging uses in fuel cells for electricity generation and as a heat source. When used in fuel cells, hydrogen's only emission at point of use is water vapor, though combustion can produce nitrogen oxides . Hydrogen's interaction with metals may cause embrittlement . Hydrogen gas

1800-471: A spark or flame, they do not react at room temperature in the absence of a catalyst. The ground state energy level of the electron in a hydrogen atom is −13.6  eV , equivalent to an ultraviolet photon of roughly 91 nm wavelength. The energy levels of hydrogen can be calculated fairly accurately using the Bohr model of the atom, in which the electron "orbits" the proton, like how Earth orbits

1900-450: A species. To avoid the implication of the naked "solvated proton" in solution, acidic aqueous solutions are sometimes considered to contain a less unlikely fictitious species, termed the " hydronium ion" ( [H 3 O] ). However, even in this case, such solvated hydrogen cations are more realistically conceived as being organized into clusters that form species closer to [H 9 O 4 ] . Other oxonium ions are found when water

2000-406: A spin singlet state having spin S = 0 {\displaystyle S=0} . The equilibrium ratio of ortho- to para-hydrogen depends on temperature. At room temperature or warmer, equilibrium hydrogen gas contains about 25% of the para form and 75% of the ortho form. The ortho form is an excited state , having higher energy than the para form by 1.455 kJ/mol, and it converts to

2100-656: A team of professional astronomers beginning in April 2006 to study the storms using the Hubble Space Telescope ; on 20 July 2006, the two storms were photographed passing each other by the Gemini Observatory without converging. In May 2008, a third storm turned red. The Juno spacecraft , which entered into a polar orbit around Jupiter in 2016, flew over the Great Red Spot upon its close approach to Jupiter on 11 July 2017, taking several images of

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2200-438: A term that is used fairly loosely. The term "hydride" suggests that the H atom has acquired a negative or anionic character, denoted H ; and is used when hydrogen forms a compound with a more electropositive element. The existence of the hydride anion , suggested by Gilbert N. Lewis in 1916 for group 1 and 2 salt-like hydrides, was demonstrated by Moers in 1920 by the electrolysis of molten lithium hydride (LiH), producing

2300-482: A while before caus'd to be purposely fil'd off from a piece of good steel. This metalline powder being moistn'd in the viol with a little of the menstruum, was afterwards drench'd with more; whereupon the mixture grew very hot, and belch'd up copious and stinking fumes; which whether they consisted altogether of the volatile sulfur of the Mars [iron], or of metalline steams participating of a sulfureous nature, and join'd with

2400-579: Is exothermic and produces enough heat to evaporate most of the liquid if not converted first to parahydrogen during the cooling process. Catalysts for the ortho-para interconversion, such as ferric oxide and activated carbon compounds, are used during hydrogen cooling to avoid this loss of liquid. While H 2 is not very reactive under standard conditions, it does form compounds with most elements. Hydrogen can form compounds with elements that are more electronegative , such as halogens (F, Cl, Br, I), or oxygen ; in these compounds hydrogen takes on

2500-428: 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 , but more commonly called hydrogen gas , molecular hydrogen or simply hydrogen. It is colorless, odorless, non-toxic, and highly combustible . Constituting about 75% of all normal matter , hydrogen

2600-460: Is a high-pressure system located in Jupiter's southern hemisphere. The GRS is a powerful anticyclone, swirling at about 430 to 680 kilometers per hour counterclockwise around the center. The Spot has become known for its ferocity, even feeding on smaller Jovian storms. Tholins are brown organic compounds found within the surface of various planets that are formed by exposure to UV irradiation. The tholins that exist on Jupiter's surface get sucked up into

2700-547: Is also a feature in the atmosphere of Neptune called the Great Dark Spot . The latter feature was imaged by Voyager 2 in 1989 and may have been an atmospheric hole rather than a storm. It was no longer present as of 1994, although a similar spot had appeared farther to the north. Jupiter's Great Red Spot rotates counterclockwise, with a period of about 4.5 Earth days, or 11 Jovian days, as of 2008. Measuring 16,350 km (10,160 mi) in width as of 3 April 2017,

2800-505: Is crucial in acid-base reactions , which mainly involve proton exchange among soluble molecules. In ionic compounds , hydrogen can take the form of either a negatively charged anion , where it is known as hydride , or as a positively charged cation , H . The cation, usually just a proton (symbol p ), exhibits specific behavior in aqueous solutions and in ionic compounds involves screening of its electric charge by surrounding polar molecules or anions. Hydrogen's unique position as

2900-416: Is detected in order to probe primordial hydrogen. The large amount of neutral hydrogen found in the damped Lyman-alpha systems is thought to dominate the cosmological baryonic density of the universe up to a redshift of z  = 4. Under ordinary conditions on Earth, elemental hydrogen exists as the diatomic gas, H 2 . Hydrogen gas is very rare in Earth's atmosphere (around 0.53 ppm on

3000-400: Is highly flammable: Enthalpy of combustion : −286 kJ/mol. Hydrogen gas forms explosive mixtures with air in concentrations from 4–74% and with chlorine at 5–95%. The hydrogen autoignition temperature , the temperature of spontaneous ignition in air, is 500 °C (932 °F). Pure hydrogen-oxygen flames emit ultraviolet light and with high oxygen mix are nearly invisible to

3100-453: Is in acidic solution with other solvents. Although exotic on Earth, one of the most common ions in the universe is the H + 3 ion, known as protonated molecular hydrogen or the trihydrogen cation. Hydrogen has three naturally occurring isotopes, denoted H , H and H . Other, highly unstable nuclei ( H to H ) have been synthesized in the laboratory but not observed in nature. Unique among

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3200-406: Is insoluble allow the denser helium to form droplets and act as a source of energy, both through the release of latent heat and by descending deeper into the center of the planet. This phase separation leads to helium droplets that fall as rain through the liquid metallic hydrogen until they reach a warmer region where they dissolve in the hydrogen. Since Jupiter and Saturn have different total masses,

3300-598: Is no distinction between liquids and gases. The term has nevertheless caught on, because planetary scientists typically use "rock", "gas", and "ice" as shorthands for classes of elements and compounds commonly found as planetary constituents, irrespective of what phase the matter may appear in. In the outer Solar System, hydrogen and helium are referred to as "gases"; water, methane, and ammonia as "ices"; and silicates and metals as "rocks". In this terminology, since Uranus and Neptune are primarily composed of ices, not gas, they are more commonly called ice giants and distinct from

3400-404: Is not known how long the spot will last, or whether the change is a result of normal fluctuations. In 2019, the Great Red Spot began "flaking" at its edge, with fragments of the storm breaking off and dissipating. The shrinking and "flaking" fueled speculation from some astronomers that the Great Red Spot could dissipate within 20 years. However, other astronomers believe that the apparent size of

3500-484: Is soluble in both nanocrystalline and amorphous metals . Hydrogen solubility in metals is influenced by local distortions or impurities in the crystal lattice . These properties may be useful when hydrogen is purified by passage through hot palladium disks, but the gas's high solubility is a metallurgical problem, contributing to the embrittlement of many metals, complicating the design of pipelines and storage tanks. Hydrogen compounds are often called hydrides ,

3600-456: Is still no logical reason that it is 200–500 km in depth, but the jet streams that supply the force that powers the GRS vortex are well below the structure base. It is not known what causes the Great Red Spot's reddish color. Hypotheses supported by laboratory experiments suppose that it may be caused by chemical products created from the solar ultraviolet irradiation of ammonium hydrosulfide and

3700-537: Is still used, in preference to non-flammable but more expensive helium, as a lifting gas for weather balloons . Deuterium was discovered in December 1931 by Harold Urey , and tritium was prepared in 1934 by Ernest Rutherford , Mark Oliphant , and Paul Harteck . Heavy water , which consists of deuterium in the place of regular hydrogen, was discovered by Urey's group in 1932. The first hydrogen-cooled turbogenerator went into service using gaseous hydrogen as

3800-490: Is the most abundant chemical element in the universe . Stars , including the Sun , mainly consist of hydrogen in a plasma state , while on Earth, hydrogen is found in water , organic compounds , as dihydrogen , and in other molecular forms . The most common isotope of hydrogen (protium, H) consists of one proton , one electron , and no neutrons . In the early universe , the formation of hydrogen's protons occurred in

3900-412: Is the carbon-hydrogen bond that gives this class of compounds most of its particular chemical characteristics, carbon-hydrogen bonds are required in some definitions of the word "organic" in chemistry. Millions of hydrocarbons are known, and they are usually formed by complicated pathways that seldom involve elemental hydrogen. Hydrogen is highly soluble in many rare earth and transition metals and

4000-523: Is the largest in the Solar System . It is the most recognizable feature on Jupiter, owing to its red-orange color whose origin is still unknown. Located 22 degrees south of Jupiter 's equator , it produces wind-speeds up to 432 km/h (268 mph). It was first observed in September 1831, with 60 recorded observations between then and 1878, when continuous observations began. A similar spot

4100-552: Is used for latitudes of more than 10 degrees and was originally based on the average rotational period of the Great Red Spot of 9h 55m 42s. Despite this, however, the spot has "lapped" the planet in System II at least 10 times since the early 19th century. Its drift rate has changed dramatically over the years and has been linked to the brightness of the South Equatorial Belt and the presence or absence of

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4200-502: The Hindenburg airship was a notorious example of hydrogen combustion and the cause is still debated. The visible flames in the photographs were the result of carbon compounds in the airship skin burning. H 2 is unreactive compared to diatomic elements such as halogens or oxygen. The thermodynamic basis of this low reactivity is the very strong H–H bond, with a bond dissociation energy of 435.7 kJ/mol. The kinetic basis of

4300-579: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) allows any of D, T, H , and H to be used, though H and H are preferred. The exotic atom muonium (symbol Mu), composed of an anti muon and an electron , can also be considered a light radioisotope of hydrogen. Because muons decay with lifetime 2.2  µs , muonium is too unstable for observable chemistry. Nevertheless, muonium compounds are important test cases for quantum simulation , due to

4400-574: The "permanent spot" observed from 1665 to 1713 may not be the same as the modern Great Red Spot observed since 1831. It is suggested that the original spot disappeared, and later another spot formed, which is the one seen today. On 25 February 1979, when the Voyager 1 spacecraft was 9,200,000 km (5,700,000 mi) from Jupiter, it transmitted the first detailed image of the Great Red Spot. Cloud details as small as 160 km (100 mi) across were visible. The colorful, wavy cloud pattern seen to

4500-431: The "planetary orbit" differs from electron motion. Molecular H 2 exists as two spin isomers , i.e. compounds that differ only in the spin states of their nuclei. In the orthohydrogen form, the spins of the two nuclei are parallel, forming a spin triplet state having a total molecular spin S = 1 {\displaystyle S=1} ; in the parahydrogen form the spins are antiparallel and form

4600-543: The 48-year observational gap makes the identity of the two spots inconclusive. The older spot's shorter observational history and slower motion than the modern spot makes it difficult to conclude that they are the same. A minor mystery concerns a Jovian spot depicted in a 1711 canvas by Donato Creti , which is exhibited in the Vatican . Part of a series of panels in which different (magnified) heavenly bodies serve as backdrops for various Italian scenes, and all overseen by

4700-557: The GRS to determine how far the GRS extended toward the surface of the condensed H 2 O layer. These MWR scans suggested that the GRS vertical depth extended to about 240 km below cloud level, with an estimated drop in atmospheric pressure to 100 bar. Two methods of analysis that constrain the data collected were the mascon approach, which found a depth of ~290 km, and the Slepian approach showing wind extending to ~310 km. These methods, along with gravity signature MWR data, suggest that

4800-414: The GRS zonal winds still increase at a rate of 50% of the velocity of the viable cloud level, before the wind decay starts at lower levels. This rate of wind decay and gravity data suggest the depth of the GRS is between 200 and 500 km. Galileo and Cassini's thermal infrared imaging and spectroscopy of the GRS were conducted during 1995–2008, in order to find evidence of thermal inhomogeneities within

4900-487: The GRS, which is located in a thin anticyclonic ring at 70–85% of the radius and is located along Jupiter's fastest westward moving jet stream. During NASA's 2016 Juno mission, gravity signature and thermal infrared data were obtained that offered insight into the structural dynamics and depth of the GRS. During July 2017, the Juno spacecraft conducted a second pass of the GRS to collect Microwave Radiometer (MWR) scans of

5000-459: The Great Red Spot is 1.3 times the diameter of Earth. The cloud-tops of this storm are about 8 km (5 mi) above the surrounding cloud-tops. The storm has continued to exist for centuries because there is no planetary surface (only a mantle of hydrogen ) to provide friction; circulating gas eddies persist for a very long time in the atmosphere because there is nothing to oppose their angular momentum. Infrared data has long indicated that

5100-402: The Great Red Spot is colder (and thus higher in altitude) than most of the other clouds on the planet. The upper atmosphere above the storm, however, has substantially higher temperatures than the rest of the planet. Acoustic (sound) waves rising from the turbulence of the storm below have been proposed as an explanation for the heating of this region. The acoustic waves travel vertically up to

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5200-485: The Great Red Spot reflects its cloud coverage and not the size of the actual, underlying vortex, and they also believe that the flaking events can be explained by interactions with other cyclones or anticyclones, including incomplete absorptions of smaller systems; if this is the case, this would mean that the Great Red Spot is not in danger of dissipating. A smaller spot, designated Oval BA , which formed in March 2000 from

5300-508: The Great Red Spot's counterclockwise circulation as far back as 1966, observations dramatically confirmed by the first time-lapse movies from the Voyager fly-bys. The spot is confined by a modest eastward jet stream to its south and a very strong westward one to its north. Though winds around the edge of the spot peak at about 432 km/h (268 mph), currents inside it seem stagnant, with little inflow or outflow. The rotation period of

5400-479: The Sun and other stars). The charged particles are highly influenced by magnetic and electric fields. For example, in the solar wind they interact with the Earth's magnetosphere giving rise to Birkeland currents and the aurora . Hydrogen is found in the neutral atomic state in the interstellar medium because the atoms seldom collide and combine. They are the source of the 21-cm hydrogen line at 1420 MHz that

5500-457: The Sun and the CNO cycle of nuclear fusion in case of stars more massive than the Sun . Throughout the universe, hydrogen is mostly found in the atomic and plasma states, with properties quite distinct from those of molecular hydrogen. As a plasma, hydrogen's electron and proton are not bound together, resulting in very high electrical conductivity and high emissivity (producing the light from

5600-464: The Sun. However, the electron and proton are held together by electrostatic attraction, while planets and celestial objects are held by gravity . Due to the discretization of angular momentum postulated in early quantum mechanics by Bohr, the electron in the Bohr model can only occupy certain allowed distances from the proton, and therefore only certain allowed energies. A more accurate description of

5700-589: The U.S. Navy's Navigation technology satellite-2 (NTS-2). The International Space Station , Mars Odyssey and the Mars Global Surveyor are equipped with nickel-hydrogen batteries. In the dark part of its orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope is also powered by nickel-hydrogen batteries, which were finally replaced in May 2009, more than 19 years after launch and 13 years beyond their design life. Because of its simple atomic structure, consisting only of

5800-631: The astronomer Eustachio Manfredi for accuracy, Creti's painting is the first known depiction of the Great Red Spot as red (albeit raised to the Jovian northern hemisphere due to an optical inversion inherent to the era's telescopes). No Jovian feature was explicitly described in writing as red before the late 19th century. The Great Red Spot has been observed since 5 September 1831. By 1879, over 60 observations had been recorded. Since it came into prominence in 1879, it has been under continuous observation. A 2024 study of historical observations suggests that

5900-431: The atmosphere by storms and circulation; it is hypothesized that those tholins that become ejected from the regolith get stuck in Jupiter's GRS, causing it to be red. Condensation of helium creates liquid helium rain on gas giants. On Saturn, this helium condensation occurs at certain pressures and temperatures when helium does not mix in with the liquid metallic hydrogen present on the planet. Regions on Saturn where helium

6000-497: The composition of the phosphine and ammonia aerosols (PH 3 , NH 3 ) and para-hydroxybenzoic acid within the anticyclonic circulation of the GRS. The images that were collected from the CIRS and ground-based imaging trace the vertical motion in the Jovian atmosphere by PH 3 and NH 3 spectra. The highest concentrations of PH 3 and NH 3 were found to the north of the GRS peripheral rotation. They aided in determining

6100-666: The data collected by the VISIR (VLT Mid-Infrared Imager Spectrometer on the ESO Very Large Telescope) imaging obtained in 2006; this revealed that the GRS was physically present at a wide range of altitudes that occur within the atmospheric pressure range of 80–600 mbar, and confirms the thermal infrared mapping result. To develop a model of the internal structure of the GRS the Cassini mission Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) and ground based spatial imaging mapped

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6200-402: The east and west of the GRS. The vertical temperature of the structure of the GRS is constrained between the 100–600 mbar range, with the vertical temperature of the GRS core is approximately 400 mbar of pressure , being 1.0–1.5 K, much warmer than regions of the GRS to the east–west, and 3.0–3.5 K warmer than regions to the north–south of the structures edge. This structure is consistent with

6300-430: The elements, distinct names are assigned to its isotopes in common use. During the early study of radioactivity, heavy radioisotopes were given their own names, but these are mostly no longer used. The symbols D and T (instead of H and H ) are sometimes used for deuterium and tritium, but the symbol P was already used for phosphorus and thus was not available for protium. In its nomenclatural guidelines,

6400-497: The first reliable form of air-travel following the 1852 invention of the first hydrogen-lifted airship by Henri Giffard . German count Ferdinand von Zeppelin promoted the idea of rigid airships lifted by hydrogen that later were called Zeppelins ; the first of which had its maiden flight in 1900. Regularly scheduled flights started in 1910 and by the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, they had carried 35,000 passengers without

6500-496: The first second after the Big Bang ; neutral hydrogen atoms only formed about 370,000 years later during the recombination epoch as the universe cooled and plasma had cooled enough for electrons to remain bound to protons. Hydrogen, typically nonmetallic except under extreme pressure , readily forms covalent bonds with most nonmetals, contributing to the formation of compounds like water and various organic substances. Its role

6600-590: The gas giants. Theoretically, gas giants can be divided into five distinct classes according to their modeled physical atmospheric properties, and hence their appearance: ammonia clouds (I), water clouds (II), cloudless (III), alkali-metal clouds (IV), and silicate clouds (V). Jupiter and Saturn are both class I. Hot Jupiters are class IV or V. A cold hydrogen-rich gas giant more massive than Jupiter but less than about 500  M E ( 1.6   M J ) will only be slightly larger in volume than Jupiter. For masses above 500  M E , gravity will cause

6700-462: The gas produces water when burned. He is usually given credit for the discovery of hydrogen as an element. In 1783, Antoine Lavoisier identified the element that came to be known as hydrogen when he and Laplace reproduced Cavendish's finding that water is produced when hydrogen is burned. Lavoisier produced hydrogen for his experiments on mass conservation by reacting a flux of steam with metallic iron through an incandescent iron tube heated in

6800-427: The high temperatures associated with plasmas, such protons cannot be removed from the electron clouds of atoms and molecules, and will remain attached to them. However, the term 'proton' is sometimes used loosely and metaphorically to refer to positively charged or cationic hydrogen attached to other species in this fashion, and as such is denoted " H " without any implication that any single protons exist freely as

6900-503: The hydrogen atom comes from a quantum analysis that uses the Schrödinger equation , Dirac equation or Feynman path integral formulation to calculate the probability density of the electron around the proton. The most complex formulas include the small effects of special relativity and vacuum polarization . In the quantum mechanical treatment, the electron in a ground state hydrogen atom has no angular momentum—illustrating how

7000-399: The hydrogen gas blowpipe in 1819. The Döbereiner's lamp and limelight were invented in 1823. Hydrogen was liquefied for the first time by James Dewar in 1898 by using regenerative cooling and his invention, the vacuum flask . He produced solid hydrogen the next year. The first hydrogen-filled balloon was invented by Jacques Charles in 1783. Hydrogen provided the lift for

7100-536: The hydrologic cycle are intimately linked together to create intense thunderstorms. During a terrestrial thunderstorm, condensation releases heat that pushes rising air upward. This "moist convection" engine can segregate electrical charges into different parts of a cloud; the reuniting of those charges is lightning. Therefore, we can use lightning to signal to us where convection is happening. Although Jupiter has no ocean or wet ground, moist convection seems to function similarly compared to Earth. The Great Red Spot (GRS)

7200-419: The internal structure vortex of the GRS. Previous thermal infrared temperature maps from the Voyager , Galileo, and Cassini missions suggested the GRS is a structure of an anticyclonic vortex with a cold core within a upwelling warmer annulus; this data shows a gradient in the temperature of the GRS. Better understanding of Jupiter's atmospheric temperature, aerosol particle opacity, and ammonia gas composition

7300-504: The left (west) of the Red Spot is a region of extraordinarily complex and variable wave motion. In the 21st century, the major diameter of the Great Red Spot has been observed to be shrinking in size. At the start of 2004, its length was about half that of a century earlier, when it reached a size of 40,000 km (25,000 mi), about three times the diameter of Earth. At the present rate of reduction, it will become circular by 2040. It

7400-400: The low reactivity is the nonpolar nature of H 2 and its weak polarizability. It spontaneously reacts with chlorine and fluorine to form hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride , respectively. The reactivity of H 2 is strongly affected by the presence of metal catalysts. Thus, while mixtures of H 2 with O 2 or air combust readily when heated to at least 500°C by

7500-402: The mass difference between the antimuon and the proton, and IUPAC nomenclature incorporates such hypothetical compounds as muonium chloride (MuCl) and sodium muonide (NaMu), analogous to hydrogen chloride and sodium hydride respectively. Table of thermal and physical properties of hydrogen (H 2 ) at atmospheric pressure: In 1671, Irish scientist Robert Boyle discovered and described

7600-481: The mass of the universe, however, is not in the form of chemical-element type matter, but rather is postulated to occur as yet-undetected forms of mass such as dark matter and dark energy . Hydrogen is found in great abundance in stars and gas giant planets. Molecular clouds of H 2 are associated with star formation . Hydrogen plays a vital role in powering stars through the proton-proton reaction in case of stars with very low to approximately 1 mass of

7700-675: The merging of three white ovals, has turned reddish in color. Astronomers have named it the Little Red Spot or Red Jr. As of 5 June 2006, the Great Red Spot and Oval BA appeared to be approaching convergence. The storms pass each other about every two years, but the passing of 2002 and 2004 were of little significance. Amy Simon-Miller , of the Goddard Space Flight Center , predicted the storms would have their closest passing on 4 July 2006. She worked with Imke de Pater and Phil Marcus of UC Berkeley as well as

7800-501: The naked eye, as illustrated by the faint plume of the Space Shuttle Main Engine , compared to the highly visible plume of a Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster , which uses an ammonium perchlorate composite . The detection of a burning hydrogen leak, may require a flame detector ; such leaks can be very dangerous. Hydrogen flames in other conditions are blue, resembling blue natural gas flames. The destruction of

7900-649: The number and combination of possible compounds varies widely; for example, more than 100 binary borane hydrides are known, but only one binary aluminium hydride. Binary indium hydride has not yet been identified, although larger complexes exist. In inorganic chemistry , hydrides can also serve as bridging ligands that link two metal centers in a coordination complex . This function is particularly common in group 13 elements , especially in boranes ( boron hydrides) and aluminium complexes, as well as in clustered carboranes . Oxidation of hydrogen removes its electron and gives H , which contains no electrons and

8000-655: The only neutral atom for which the Schrödinger equation can be directly solved, has significantly contributed to the foundational principles of quantum mechanics through the exploration of its energetics and chemical bonding . Hydrogen gas was first produced artificially in the early 16th century by reacting acids with metals. Henry Cavendish , in 1766–81, identified hydrogen gas as a distinct substance and discovered its property of producing water when burned; hence its name means "water-former" in Greek. Most hydrogen production occurs through steam reforming of natural gas ;

8100-513: The organic compound acetylene , which produces a reddish material—likely complex organic compounds called tholins . The high altitude of the compounds may also contribute to the coloring. The Great Red Spot varies greatly in hue, from almost brick-red to pale salmon or even white. The spot occasionally disappears, becoming evident only through the Red Spot Hollow, which is its location in the South Equatorial Belt (SEB). Its visibility

8200-420: The para form over the course of several minutes when cooled to low temperature. The thermal properties of the forms differ because they differ in their allowed rotational quantum states , resulting in different thermal properties such as the heat capacity. The ortho-to-para ratio in H 2 is an important consideration in the liquefaction and storage of liquid hydrogen : the conversion from ortho to para

8300-573: The planet to shrink (see degenerate matter ). Kelvin–Helmholtz heating can cause a gas giant to radiate more energy than it receives from its host star. Although the words "gas" and "giant" are often combined, hydrogen planets need not be as large as the familiar gas giants from the Solar System. However, smaller gas planets and planets closer to their star will lose atmospheric mass more quickly via hydrodynamic escape than larger planets and planets farther out. A gas dwarf could be defined as

8400-477: The quantum mechanical treatment of the hydrogen atom had been developed in the mid-1920s. One of the first quantum effects to be explicitly noticed (but not understood at the time) was a Maxwell observation involving hydrogen, half a century before full quantum mechanical theory arrived. Maxwell observed that the specific heat capacity of H 2 unaccountably departs from that of a diatomic gas below room temperature and begins to increasingly resemble that of

8500-502: The reaction between iron filings and dilute acids , which results in the production of hydrogen gas. Having provided a saline spirit [hydrochloric acid], which by an uncommon way of preparation was made exceeding sharp and piercing, we put into a vial, capable of containing three or four ounces of water, a convenient quantity of filings of steel, which were not such as are commonly sold in shops to Chymists and Apothecaries, (those being usually not free enough from rust) but such as I had

8600-506: The saline exhalations of the menstruum, is not necessary to be here discuss'd. But whencesoever this stinking smoak proceeded, so inflammable it was, that upon the approach of a lighted candle to it, it would readily enough take fire, and burn with a blewish and somewhat greenish flame at the mouth of the viol for a good while together; and that, though with little light, yet with more strength than one would easily suspect. The word "sulfureous" may be somewhat confusing, especially since Boyle did

8700-405: The same effect. Antihydrogen ( H ) is the antimatter counterpart to hydrogen. It consists of an antiproton with a positron . Antihydrogen is the only type of antimatter atom to have been produced as of 2015 . Hydrogen, as atomic H, is the most abundant chemical element in the universe, making up 75% of normal matter by mass and >90% by number of atoms. Most of

8800-536: The solar system's gas giants can be explained by the Grand tack hypothesis . The defining differences between a very low-mass brown dwarf (which can have a mass as low as roughly 13 times that of Jupiter) and a gas giant are debated. One school of thought is based on formation; the other, on the physics of the interior. Part of the debate concerns whether brown dwarfs must, by definition, have experienced nuclear fusion at some point in their history. The term gas giant

8900-471: The southward jet movement and showed evidence of an increase in altitude of the column of aerosols with pressures ranging from 200–500 mbar. However, the NH 3 composition data shows that there is a major depletion of NH 3 below the visible cloud layer at the southern peripheral ring of the GRS; this lower opacity is relative to a narrow band of atmospheric subsidence. The low mid-IR aerosol opacity, along with

9000-504: The spot has decreased with time, perhaps as a direct result of its steady reduction in size. The Great Red Spot's latitude has been stable for the duration of good observational records, typically varying by about a degree. Its longitude , however, is subject to constant variation, including a 90-day longitudinal oscillation with an amplitude of ~1°. Because Jupiter does not rotate uniformly at all latitudes, astronomers have defined three different systems for defining longitude. System II

9100-597: The storm from a distance of about 8,000 km (5,000 mi) above the surface. Over the duration of the Juno mission, the spacecraft continued to study the composition and evolution of Jupiter's atmosphere, especially its Great Red Spot. The Great Red Spot should not be confused with the Great Dark Spot, a feature observed near the northern pole of Jupiter in 2000 with the Cassini–Huygens spacecraft. There

9200-419: The storm that exists today. A long gap separates its period of current study after 1830 from its 17th century discovery. Whether the original spot dissipated and reformed, whether it faded, or if the observational record was simply poor is unknown. The first sighting of the Great Red Spot is often credited to Robert Hooke , who described a spot on the planet in May 1664. However, it is likely that Hooke's spot

9300-460: The temperature gradients, the altitude difference, and the vertical movement of the zonal winds, are involved with the development and sustainability of the vorticity. The stronger atmospheric subsidence and compositional asymmetries of the GRS suggest that the structure exhibits a degree of tilt from the northern edge to the southern edge of the structure. The GRS depth and internal structure has been constantly changing over decades; however there

9400-798: The thermodynamic conditions in the planetary interior could be such that this condensation process is more prevalent in Saturn than in Jupiter. Helium condensation could be responsible for Saturn's excess luminosity as well as the helium depletion in the atmosphere of both Jupiter and Saturn. Solar System   → Local Interstellar Cloud   → Local Bubble   → Gould Belt   → Orion Arm   → Milky Way   → Milky Way subgroup   → Local Group → Local Sheet → Virgo Supercluster → Laniakea Supercluster   → Local Hole   → Observable universe   → Universe Each arrow ( → ) may be read as "within" or "part of". Molecular hydrogen Hydrogen

9500-404: Was coined in 1952 by the science fiction writer James Blish and was originally used to refer to all giant planets . It is, arguably, something of a misnomer because throughout most of the volume of all giant planets, the pressure is so high that matter is not in gaseous form. Other than solids in the core and the upper layers of the atmosphere, all matter is above the critical point , where there

9600-523: Was no water anywhere in the Solar System besides Earth) and ammonia . The layer of metallic hydrogen located in the mid-interior makes up the bulk of every gas giant and is referred to as "metallic" because the very large atmospheric pressure turns hydrogen into an electrical conductor. The gas giants' cores are thought to consist of heavier elements at such high temperatures (20,000  K [19,700  °C ; 35,500  °F ]) and pressures that their properties are not yet completely understood. The placement of

9700-490: Was not only in another belt altogether (the North Equatorial Belt, as opposed to the current Great Red Spot's location in the South Equatorial Belt ), but also that it was in the shadow of a transiting moon, most likely Callisto . Far more convincing is Giovanni Cassini 's description of a "permanent spot" the following year. With fluctuations in visibility, Cassini's spot was observed from 1665 to 1713, but

9800-407: Was observed from 1665 to 1713; if this is the same storm, it has existed for at least 359 years, but a study from 2024 suggests this is not the case. The Great Red Spot may have existed before 1665, but it could be that the present spot was first seen only in 1830, and was well studied only after a prominent appearance in 1879. The storm that was seen in the 17th century may have been different from

9900-407: Was provided by thermal-IR imaging: a direct correlation of the visible cloud layers reactions, thermal gradient and compositional mapping to observational data were collected over decades. During December 2000, high spatial resolution images from Galileo, of an atmospheric turbulent area to the northwest of the GRS, showed a thermal contrast between the warmest region of the anticyclone and regions to

10000-527: Was used in the Hindenburg airship, which was destroyed in a midair fire over New Jersey on 6 May 1937. The incident was broadcast live on radio and filmed. Ignition of leaking hydrogen is widely assumed to be the cause, but later investigations pointed to the ignition of the aluminized fabric coating by static electricity . But the damage to hydrogen's reputation as a lifting gas was already done and commercial hydrogen airship travel ceased . Hydrogen

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