If atomic hydrogen is generated in a system at low pressure, the atoms will have a significant lifetime—e.g., 0.3 second at a pressure of 0.5 millimetre of mercury. Atomic hydrogen is very reactive. It combines with most elements to form hydrides (e.g., sodium hydride, NaH), and it reduces metallic oxides, a reaction that produces the metal in its elemental state. The surfaces of metals that do not combine with hydrogen to form stable hydrides (e.g., platinum) catalyze the recombination of hydrogen atoms to form hydrogen molecules and are thereby heated to incandescence by the energy that this reaction releases.
Molecular hydrogen can react with many elements and compounds, but at room temperature the reaction rates are usually so low as to be negligible. This apparent inertness is in part related to the very high dissociation energy of the molecule. At elevated temperatures, however, the reaction rates are high.
