HYDROGEN CYCLE: PHASES AND IMPORTANCE - SCIENCE - 2025

The hydrogen cycle is that process in which hydrogen moves through water around the earth, thus being an essential part of the chemical and atomic composition of this element.

The hydrosphere obtains hydrogen only from water, an element formed exclusively by the combination of oxygen and hydrogen. During photographic synthesis, hydrogen is produced by the dissociation of water to form glucose after combing with carbon dioxide.

Vatyka / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Plants provide food for herbivores and these animals obtain glucose and protein from plants only. Hydrogen forms carbohydrates, which are an important source of energy for living beings, and these carbohydrates arrive as food.

There are innumerable types of living things on Earth. All of these are basically composed of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen. Animals obtain these elements from nature and processes such as formation, growth and decomposition normally occur in nature.

Several cycles happen as a result of each of these processes, and because of them, they are linked to each other, establishing a balance.

Phases of the hydrogen cycle

Hydrogen atoms can be stored as a high pressure gas or liquid. Hydrogen is often stored as liquid hydrogen because it takes up less space than hydrogen in its normal gas form.

When a hydrogen atom joins a strongly electronegative atom that exists in the vicinity of another electronegative atom with a lone pair of electrons, it makes a hydrogen bond, which forms a molecule. Two hydrogen atoms make up a hydrogen molecule, H2 for short.

Hydrogen is a key component of many biogeochemical cycles, including the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, and the sulfur cycle. Because hydrogen is a component of the water molecule, the hydrogen cycle and the water cycle are deeply linked.

Plants also recombine water and carbon dioxide from the soil and atmosphere to form glucose in a process known as photosynthesis. If the plant is consumed, the hydrogen molecules are transferred to the grazing animal.

Organic matter is stored in soils as the plant or animal dies, and hydrogen molecules are released back into the atmosphere by oxidation.

1- Evaporation

Most of the hydrogen on our planet is found in water, so the hydrogen cycle is closely related to the hydrological cycle. The hydrogen cycle begins with evaporation from the surface of the water.

2- Condensation

The hydrosphere includes the atmosphere, earth, surface waters, and groundwater. As water moves through the cycle, it changes state between the liquid, solid, and gas phases.

Water moves through different reservoirs, including the ocean, atmosphere, groundwater, rivers, and glaciers, by the physical processes of evaporation (including plant transpiration), sublimation, precipitation, infiltration, runoff, and subsurface flow.

3- perspiration

Plants absorb water from the soil through their roots and then pump it and supply nutrients to their leaves. Perspiration represents approximately 10% of the evaporated water.

This is the discharge of water vapor from the leaves of plants into the atmosphere. It is a process that the eye cannot see, despite the significant amounts of moisture involved. It is believed that a large oak can perspire 151,000 liters per year.

Perspiration is also the reason why there is higher humidity in places with a lot of vegetation cover. The amount of water that transpires through this process depends on the plant itself, the moisture in the soil (soil), the surrounding temperature, and the movement of the wind around the plant.

4- Precipitation

It is the fall of water in any form to the ground that gives way to infiltration, which is the process in which water is absorbed into the ground or flows through the surface. This process is repeated over and over again as part of the Earth's cycles that maintain renewable resources.

Importance of hydrogen on Earth

It is mainly used to create water. Hydrogen gas can be used for metal ore reduction.

Chemical industries also use it for the production of hydrochloric acid. The same hydrogen gas is required for hydrogen atomic welding (AHW).

There are a variety of uses for hydrogen. It is the lightest element and can be used as a lifting agent in balloons, although it is also highly flammable, so it can be dangerous. This property and others make hydrogen suitable for use as a fuel.

Since hydrogen is highly flammable, especially when mixed with pure oxygen, it is used as a fuel in rockets. These usually combine liquid hydrogen with liquid oxygen to make an explosive mixture.

Hydrogen is one of the cleanest fuels because when ignited the result is plain water. This is one of the main reasons why there are efforts to create engines that can be powered by using this gas.

Although hydrogen is highly flammable, so is gasoline. Although care must be taken, the amount of hydrogen used in a car would present no more danger than the amount of gasoline used.

Despite being one of the cleanest fuels on the planet, its high cost for mass production makes it impossible in the near future to use it for commercial and domestic cars.

When hydrogen is heated to extreme temperatures, the nuclei of its atoms will fuse to create helium nuclei. This fusion results in the release of an enormous amount of energy, called thermonuclear energy. This process is what creates the energy of the sun.

Electric generators use gas as a refrigerant, which has led many plants to use it as a leak checking agent. Other applications include ammonia production and processing.

Ammonia is part of many household cleaning products. It is also a hydrogenating agent used to change unhealthy unsaturated fats to saturated oils and fats.

References

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2. Recovered from School-for-champions.com.
3. Hydrogen Element Information. Recovered from rsc.org.
4. Biogeochemical cycle. Recovered from newworldencyclopedia.org.
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7. How water moves around the wo Recovered unep.or.jp.