Water Fuel May 20, 2006, 10:43:16 pm Yahoo Message Number: 66949Have any of you LDers seen this video about using water and electricity to power a car? The clip is from Fox News, so it must be true. ;^) To view it, you'll need a broadband connection or a lot of patience. http://www.zippyvideos.com/5128777805129276/waterfuel/Sharon N.
Re: Water Fuel Reply #1 – May 21, 2006, 03:41:04 am Yahoo Message Number: 66957Quote Have any of you LDers seen this video about using water and electricity to power a car? The clip is from Fox News, so it must be true. ;^) To view it, you'll need a broadband connection or a lot of patience. http://www.zippyvideos.com/5128777805129276/waterfuel/Sharon N. Ah, but there's no free ride . . . so to speak. For as every high school chemistry student knows, you can't create nor distroy energy, just change it's form.Sounds bogus to me. Hydolisis has been around for many decades, passing an arc through water to break it down to it's component gasses. Doing this uses lots of energy in the form of electricity. Problem is all the losses involved in the process of obtaining the hydrogen and oxygen this way, then burning them in an internal combusion engine to drive a vehicle. Most losses will be in the form of waste heat - - internal combustion engines aren't all that effecient (unless ocmparing them to the old steam locomotive engines which were even worse :c). Better to figure out a good way to store and carry that electricity, using it to effeciently drive the vehicle with electric motors.Remember too, that much of the electricity used in this country is obtained from burning fossil fuels. Let's see, burn the coal, get steam, drive the steam turbine that turns the electric generator, pass the electric arc through water to get the gasses, then burn 'em in a motor to drive a car. Hmmm, what are we saving here?bumper
Re: Water Fuel Reply #2 – May 21, 2006, 11:24:47 am Yahoo Message Number: 66960I watched the video. It's further evidence (if we needed any) of the appallingly poor state of both science education and journalism. The car that the TV reporters repeatedly described as "wate powered" is nothing of the sort. It's hydrogen powered. And it takes lots of energy to extract hydrogen--considerably *more energy than you can get back* by burning the hydrogen you produced. Saying that this car runs on water while ignoring the fact that the energy really came from electricity is like saying that you can build a bridge out of water...while ignoring the fact that you also need a few tons of concrete mix. ;-)Andy Baird Tijeras, NM
Re: Water Fuel Reply #3 – May 21, 2006, 02:55:10 pm Yahoo Message Number: 66976Subject: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] Re: Water FuelSaying that this car runs on water while ignoring the fact that the energy really came from electricity is like saying that you can build a bridge out of water...while ignoring the fact that you also need a few tons of concrete mix. ;-)Andy Baird Tijeras, NM+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++LOL Darn it Andy, there you go using that logic/common sense thingee again. Next you'll be telling us that the only way pigs can fly is if we use tax dollars to take them up in big military helicopters and push them out the door.George C.
Water Fuel Reply #4 – May 22, 2006, 12:00:47 am Yahoo Message Number: 66993An interesting variation would be to use the kinetic energy of the vehicle to generate electricity which could then be used to break down water producing either pure hydrogen or the compound that they talked about in the clip (HHO). But doesn't that look a lot like H20(I can't subscript). That should be slightly less efficient than current hybrids unless he has a much more efficient method of electrolysis.
Re: Water Fuel Reply #5 – May 22, 2006, 10:30:55 am Yahoo Message Number: 67002"An interesting variation would be to use the kinetic energy of the vehicle to generate electricity which could then be used to break down water" Electric cars already do something similar--it's called "regenerative braking." When slowing down, the driving motors become generators, recharging the batteries. However, generating hydrogen by electrolysis while driving leads to question about storage. The resukt would be low-pressure hydrogen. But hydrogen-powered vehicles use either 1) liquid hydrogen, 2) metal hydrides or 3) highly compressed hydrogen. It takes a lot of energy and equipment to get hydrogen into any of those forms--not the sort of thing that's practical to carry in your car!Andy Baird Tijeras, NM
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] Re: Water Fuel Reply #6 – May 22, 2006, 11:07:35 am Yahoo Message Number: 67003When driving one is burning gas or diesel to provide all power used by the vehicle including running the ac and radio and if one was producing hydroges, so it will not work. Except when going down hill. Richard in HM AWAY 26' MB
[Life With A Lazy Daze RV] Re: Water Fuel Reply #7 – May 22, 2006, 12:02:27 pm Yahoo Message Number: 67007We have a small fleet of Mercedes experimental hydrogen powered cars at work ($1.2 million each). We can check them out of the car pool when needed as long as we have completed a safety class. It really caught my attention when the instructor told us that hydrogen has a very wide explosive range. It will burn at concentration of 4-75%, which is many times wider than any other fuel used in motor vehicles. Hydrogen has a low energy density so a lot of it needs to be carried to provide an adequate cruising range. Our test cars have a 60-80 mile range so we do not take them very far away from the Airport's hydrogen filling station. These cars are going to require years of development time before they are suitable to daily use, not to mention the establishment of a fueling infrastructure. They remind me of so many other 'cars of the future' which have never made it into mass use.See http://tinyurl.com/8a32dLarry
Re: Water Fuel Reply #8 – May 22, 2006, 12:08:02 pm Yahoo Message Number: 67010Electric cars already do something similar--it's called "regenerative braking." When slowing down, the driving motors become generators, recharging the batteries. However, generating hydrogen by electrolysis while driving leads to question about storage. The result would be low-pressure hydrogen. But hydrogen-powered vehicles use either 1) liquid hydrogen, 2) metal hydrides or 3) highly compressed hydrogen. It takes a lot of energy and equipment to get hydrogen into any of those forms.AndyThe Mercedes hydrogen powered car is a hybrid. The regenerative braking charges a small on-board battery which is used during acceleration or passing. It certainly does not generate hydrogen.Larry
Re: Water Fuel Reply #9 – May 22, 2006, 03:56:12 pm Yahoo Message Number: 67024Andy,We could go back to a storage system similar to one used
Topic: Water Fuel (Read 2 times)
previous topic - next topic
Topic: Water Fuel (Read 2 times)
previous topic - next topic