Why does the normal hydrogen atom lack a neutron

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SUMMARY

Hydrogen is the only element in the periodic table that lacks a neutron due to its unique stability as a single proton. Two or more protons without neutrons are unstable because their electrostatic repulsion exceeds the nuclear force. In contrast, isotopes like helium-3 (3He) achieve stability with the addition of a neutron, which enhances the nuclear force while slightly weakening the electromagnetic force. Following the Big Bang, the universe primarily consisted of hydrogen-1 (H1) and helium-4 (He4), with hydrogen making up approximately 75% of the elemental composition.

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why is hydrogen the only element in the periodic table that lacks a neutron?
 
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Two or more protons without any neutrons are not stable - their electrostatic repulsion is larger than the nuclear force. With an additional neutron, the nuclear force is stronger (and the electromagnetic force a bit weaker), and 3He is stable.
 
abodunrine said:
why is hydrogen the only element in the periodic table that lacks a neutron?
Right after the big bang the only nucleons were free protons and neutrons (which decay into protons). Nuclear fusion started to take place resulting in a lot of helium nuclei plus a small amount of other light nuclei, deuterons and Lithium nuclei. The net result was that the universe (after cooling down enough to form atoms) was about 75% H1 and 25% He4 and trace amounts of the others. The rest of the elements got created in stars and supernovae. However most of the universe is still H1 and He4.
 

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