Deuterium (hydrogen-2, symbol 2H or D, also known as heavy hydrogen) is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen (the other is protium, or hydrogen-1). The deuterium nucleus, called a deuteron, contains one proton and one neutron, whereas the far more common protium has no neutrons in the nucleus. Deuterium has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom of deuterium among every 6,420 atoms of hydrogen (see heavy water). Thus deuterium accounts for about 0.0156% by number (0.0312% by mass) of all hydrogen in the oceans: 4.85×1013 tonnes of deuterium – mainly in form of HOD (or 1HO2H or 1H2HO) and only rarely in form of D2O (or 2H2O) – in 1.4×1018 tonnes of water. The abundance of deuterium changes slightly from one kind of natural water to another (see Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water).

Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest element and, at standard conditions, is a gas of diatomic molecules with the formula H2, sometimes called dihydrogen, but more commonly called hydrogen gas, molecular hydrogen or simply hydrogen. It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, and highly combustible. Constituting approximately 75% of all normal matter, hydrogen is the most abundant chemical substance in the universe. Stars, including the Sun, primarily consist of hydrogen in a plasma state, while on Earth, hydrogen is found in water, organic compounds, and other molecular forms. The most common isotope of hydrogen consists of one proton, one electron, and no neutrons.