Not seeing anything too exciting in the news today, I’m going to start in order with Hydrogen, the first element in the periodic table. The purpose of these Element of the Moment posts are for me the share with you some things I find interesting about the different elements in the periodic table. Most of the topics are likely to be biological in nature.
Hydrogen, two-thirds by atom count of water, is an incredibly important element in biological systems. Roughly 60% of all the atoms in our bodies are hydrogen atoms, mostly because of the high water content in our bodies. Water is a fantastic molecule in its chemical properties and these properties have allowed for life as we know it. This fact is why there is such an active search for other sources of water in our galaxy and beyond. Speaking of which, time for my pregnant self to take a potty break. It has been 10 minutes already…and I’m back. Let’s save further discussion of water for Molecule of the Moment and turn our attention back to hydrogen.
If the hydrogen atom loses one electron, it becomes a proton, a very important biological entity. Just one example is respiration. The purpose of us breathing dioxygen is to make energy. The way our bodies use dioxygen to make fuel (ATP) is by sending an electron down a long electron transport chain located in our mitochondrial membranes to the oxygen molecule where it (and three others of its friends) will add to dioxygen to form water. As these electrons move from protein complex to protein complex on their way to dioxygen, protons are pushed across to one side of the membrane forming a very strong gradient. Think of it like water building up on one side of a dam. There are proteins in the same membranes that can use this built up energy to make the very high energy bonds found in ATP. Just one of many different ways hydrogen is important in life. Look forward to why helium is important in biological systems - without it, how else could we make our voices high-pitched?
And random Shanna-Hydrogen fact: I routinely use highly flammable hydrogen gas in my studies that can be a little nerve wracking. We have a hydrogen alarm in our lab that is pretty cool although I always set it off. Then I think of the lab as one big Hindenburg. But no worries, no explosions (yet).