Why does hydrogen have a lower boiling point than most substances?

Hydrogen has an extremely low boiling point primarily because of the very weak forces of attraction between its molecules. These intermolecular forces, known as van der Waals forces, are significantly weaker than the ionic, covalent, or metallic bonds that hold many other substances together in solid or liquid states.12

Because these attractive forces are so minimal, very little energy is required to overcome them, allowing hydrogen to transition into a gaseous state at temperatures far below those of most other substances. These weak interactions are a result of the nature of the hydrogen molecule, which is the simplest possible molecule, consisting of only two protons and two electrons. At room temperature, the repulsive forces between hydrogen molecules actually exceed the attractive forces, which further contributes to its behavior as a gas under standard conditions.1