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Hydrogen is the first element on the period table. It's light, small, and the most abundant element in the universe. Its ionized form, H⁺, is synonymous with a proton.

It comes in many forms, and can be described many ways, but it was named originally for its contribution to the water molecule, H₂O. Hydrogen translates, from its Greek roots, to "Water forming."

When hydrogen burns by interacting with oxygen in the air, it becomes water. This makes it an ideal fuel, because it releases energy without contributing to carbon emissions.

By the time September rolls around, many of us look back on our summers wondering whether or not we actually accomplished everything on our "To Do" lists. For some, this involves elaborate trips and purchases. For others, it's as simple as binge watching a few favorite TV shows. We at Capitol Toyota can tell you two things you still have time to cross off your list:

There's some old wisdom on how to tell when you need new tires. Take a penny, and insert it into your tire tread with Lincoln's head facing down. If you can still see his hair above the tire tread, then you need new tires.

This method works because every penny is standard, and the top of Honest Abe's head is 2/32 inch from the top of the coin.

But watch what happens when a car with 2/32 inch tread tries to stop, compared to a car with 10/32 inch tread.

If you were going…

With the hydrogen-fueled Toyota Mirai on the horizon this fall, what better time to look back at Toyota's other breakthrough in green driving technology: the hybrid.

The Toyota Prius took the US by storm when introduced in 2000. It was one of the first commercially available hybrids in 100 years.

Yes, you heard that right. Hybrids only got popular in the last 15 years, but they've been around for over 100.