Democritus over 2000 years ago proposed the idea of atoms as the fundamental constituent of all matter. The Greek word means no ‘cut’; the indivisible smallest unit of matter. In the 19th century, Dalton (1766-1844) used atom in the modern sense that continues to day, even though we know the atom can be split, and the real ‘atoms’ are the sub-atomic particles with the quaintly wonderful names of quarks and leptons.

If you want to briefly go into this strange world, then let me start with the origin; if not skip two paras! A quark was created in  fiction by Joyce, a lepton is derived from greek  ‘small’, even though they are larger than quarks! The six types of quarks combine in various ways; here we are just concerned with two combinations:  two ‘up’ and one ‘down’ quarks make a  protons with a positive charge (2/3+2/3-13/); while One ‘up’ and two ‘down’ quarks make a neutrons with no charge (2/3-1/3-1/3). that form the core or nucleus of the atom. Electrons, are the  only one of six types of leptons that we are interested in for this exercise.

Quarks and leptons are called Fermions, named for Fermi. The universe is composed of Fermions and Bosons, named for Bose-Einstein equation. The Bosons are the ‘force carrier particles’. The photon is the only one that is commonly known, and this is the particle of electromagnetic radiation. Remember light is both wave and particle, and the particle is the photon. There are also Bosons for other fundamental nuclear forces (weak and strong force), but the particle for gravity (graviton) has yet to be found, even though we now have shown that gravity travels in waves.

An atom has a nucleus with neutrons and protons; the neutrons maintain the nucleus, despite the positive charge of the protons against each other.  Each element has a unique atom with an equal number of protons and electrons: its atomic number. (The number of protons + neutrons is atomic weight.) Neutrons also generally balance protons, but these can vary a little to create isotopes. The one exception is Hydrogen, #1 as it has a single proton at its core.

The Big Bang describes the expansion of the Universe from a tiny point, smaller than an atom. It expands faster than the speed of light. Cools as it expands. High energy plasma form into sub-atomic particles and then Hydrogen atoms.

Hydrogen is the first element formed, and remains 75% of the known universe. Initially, as Deuterium (with a neutron), but hydrogen does not need this neutron. Electrons spin in pairs, so two hydrogen atoms make a molecule, with each proton sharing.

The dance of electrons and protons (hydrogen atom without its electron) follows strict rules. In addition to the fact that a single electron will always search for a partner, electrons can only occupy specific ‘orbital level’. This means that when an orbital level is full, the atom is more stable – the noble gases on the periodic table, with atomic numbers 2 (Helium),  10 (Neon) and 18 (Argon) have complete first, second and third levels.

Similarly, two H atoms are relatively stable (H2), but can easily oxidise or burn to become water if enough energy is provided to disrupt the relative stability.  Hydrogen is indeed so called because that is how it was first identified in the 18th century: a gas that turns into water upon.  Instead of pairing with each other, each proton shares its electron with an oxygen atom: H2O.

Hydrogen is unique – a word derived from the Latin for ‘one – in many ways.  The dance between the proton and electron in the hydrogen atom is the basis of the chemical dance that gives us life.

In the 19th century, we thought that chemistry would not be able to fully explain life.  Yet, we no longer need to seek divine factors to explain life, including its simple yet magnificent genetic code.  Science provides a coherent and compelling account of how the Universe becomes self-aware. To my mind it is far more awe-inspiring account of our origins than any Divine myth. And yet still leaves space for God, without needing that factor to explain anything.

And it all starts with hydrogen, the deficient atom!