HISTORY

The British Scientist Henry Cavendish is considered to discover hydrogen when experimenting with acids and their reaction with base metals. During these experiments, he discovered colourless, flammable gas, which was given the name Hydrogen. The discovery was made in 1766. Cavendish also ruled out the hypothesis that water is a chemical element. The name Hydrogen comes from Greek hydro and genes – water forming and was first used by the French chemist A. L. Lavoisier who coined the French word hydrogène. Sir W. R. Grove, a British scientist, was the first to experiment with water electrolysis. He used electricity to divide water into hydrogen and oxygen. He has also discovered that electricity is produced when combining oxygen and hydrogen, during a process opposite to electrolysis. He conducted an experiment with two platinum plates inserted into two separate containers. He then put those containers into diluted sulfuric acid and realized that an electrical current flows between electrodes and water is created in the gas chamber. By connecting more of such apparatus, he increased the voltage in this "gas battery". Later, chemists l. Mond and Ch. Langer used the term fuel cell[1][2].