Posted on 09/18/2005 7:52:36 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s
See what ya think. Have at it.
I'm convinced.
Certainly, it could save the SUV. Typically, you have to reduce the weight of the vehicle to get more efficiency, but removing too much weight from a car or SUV could make it unsafe. So, if you can create a more efficient car engine, you don't have to sacrifice weight and safety.
Hel-LO? Chemistry 101 here.
Who else remembers the 'water injection' scheme popular back in the late70's (early 80's?): drill a hole in your intake manifold and put in a water drip line? The water would be sucked into the cylinders and would disassociate in the combustion.
If they could build a car that runs on hope and dreams, the supply of fuel would be endless.
This sounds amazing.
I hope this guy pulls it off.
Cause I'm sick of the oil companies ripping off people.
If this story is true, Hugo Chavez might try to kill the guy.
After writing all that - yeah - it is a really, really slim reed to be hanging your hopes on.
I remember that. I went so far as to install a small fogging nozzle into the air cleaner cover.
I had one of those onboard milage calculators that gave a new reading every 3 seconds or so. Fairly accurate too. Had I installed the rest of the water injection stuff I could actually tell you if it made any difference.
Unfortunately, I never got around to it. I kinda doubted that it would really work, and didn't want to corrode my new engine. Kinda wish I had, by now that 1979 van has melted down and is driving around as a Dodge Viper.
might make the burn produce a little less of some emissions
They aren't. It's the government that is doing it, that is responsible for it. If the oil companies had their way they'd be drilling all over and pumping oil for $10 a barrel. It's out there, make no mistake.
Keep saying to yourself.....it's the government.
Electrolysis is not an efficient way to create hydrogen or those who manufacture commercial gases such as hydrogen would be using it now. I believe all commercial grade hydrogen comes from cracking natural gas. Now if he had a means of miniaturizing a methane cracking plant and putting under the hood of a car, he might have something.
Another hydrogen snake oil peddler.
This is a full load of crap.
Just curious. What leads you to believe this?
The scumbags at canada.com have choped this story into four seperate pages (4x the ads, doncha know!). Here's a link to the "all on one page" printer friendly copy.
Repeat after me.
Electrolysis requires electrical energy.
When you burn the hydrogen produced, you get back considerably less energy that you used producing the hydrogen.
Unless this guy has found a way around the laws of thermodynamics. Which would be cool, but I sure wouln't bet the house on it.
This isn't an alternative to oil. You would still have to fill up your car with gasoline and his special mix. There are some serious concerns that I have with it: 1) are the engines that he is using with his technology rated for the increased temperatures due to the hydrogen burn, 2) does the increased efficiency compare with the increase in cost for components and his special mix, and 3) is the increased efficiency for real (and how does it compare with engines designed to operate at more optimal efficiencies)?
I am certainly not buying that he has saved the world. I am more interested in the potential for the PEM type fuel cell with an external reformer to reach a reasonable cost. That will be the time when technology vastly changes the method of locomotion in automobiles. And that will be a time when the efficiency and cleanliness take a giant leap.
Definition: the passage of a direct electric current through an ion-containing solution. Electrolysis produces chemical changes at the electrodes.
I'm encouraged by this article, especially finding out that this guy isn't the only one working on it. The fact that the emissions are so much lower is more important than the fuel savings-- and there's no reason to believe this technology can't be used in a hybrid vehicle, though both are expensive additions. The "hybridizing" of a vehicle adds about 4000 dollars to the price tag, but in the Toyota Prius results in an average emission level that is only about 10 percent of the other vehicles on the road.
Why can't the enlightened Canadians figure out a way to harness the the tidal gradient in the St. Lawrence Seaway? After traveling by ship up in that area and seeing the 24-28 foot tides (and I don't know the average tidal differential but it is BIG) I don't see why they couldn't install generators on a reservoir that let in and then out the tidal waters. Of course....they'd probably use the power to electrolyze water to produce hydrogen....to turn a turbine to generate poweer to electrolyze water. LOL! (Sorry, I amused myself)
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