Posted on 10/14/2009 1:04:01 PM PDT by Maceman
Salt water as the ultimate fuel.
I still think the picture of water on fire is really cool. Surely that more than makes up for a few kilowatts.
Some additional info here:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070913-burning-water.html
I can’t find much in the way of specifics. Not that I expect it to violate the laws of thermodynamics, but it would be a neat way to generate hydrogen for energy storage - maybe use nukes to generate hydrogen to power pollution-less cars.
One question I have...
If the process breaks up the water into H and O and then “burns” them back into water...what happens to the salt in the saltwater?
Well as of some research last year that is not entirely true. I am sure the link is here on FR somewhere. A scientist was able in a peer review study able to defy the law of thermodynamics and generate more energy that used to create the reaction. It was on an atomic level and was some real out there right brain stuff but he was abe to do it. Lots of Laws of Physics including those of Newton are turning out to be bendable and not in all cicumstances true.
Why couldn’t this be run during off peak hours when most electricity generated goes unused and is simply lost? Storing H and O2 for use in maybe a peak demand generator should be easy.
Wrong! Speaking as a "professional" inventor, just this morning I told my son that the greatest invention of all time was .... (wait for it).... the pocket.
Almost all conversions (fuel to power) involve some kind of net loss. It takes a pretty large surplus to overcome these efficiency losses.
How do it know?
In love with the new TV show “Fringe”. Not as good as the X-files, but still fun.
Walter, the loopy scientist, explains that during travel between dimensions, that “Physics is a B_tch!”
My bet is that RF is far less efficient at breaking the hydrogen-oxygen bond, and the net energy deficit is even worse.
It is an old joke - and you win the prize!
Some days, I’m an old joke. ;)
Did you see the little homage to X-Files/David Duchovny they had a few episodes back, where there is a TV playing the X-Files and we are looking at him through a security camera as he peers into it?
It was hilarious.
Well, that would make sense since it cannot violate the laws of thermodynamics. But is it more or less efficient than electrolysis?
Spot On! Thanx.
Off-peak electrical energy could be stored in some form. But the H and O released by this process needs to be pressurized for storage/transportation, and that takes energy. Unless this device can work in a high-pressure environment, but you can’t get the pressure for free. Probably would operate at a lower efficiency. Also, for safety reasons you would probably want to separate the H and O, but if doesn’t seem that would be easy with this device.
Any method of off-peak storage would have some energy losses, but it is something to work on.
That is a good question. I don't believe Sodium Chloride (NaCl) burns. But, I think Sodium does vaporize before 1,000 F (and they said the flame was at 1500 F), and Chlorine is a gas in its natural state. So, perhaps the RF waves break the molecular bonds of NaCL, which causes the Sodium to vaporize, and the Chlorine to escape as a gas - which of course would be toxic - maybe the Chlorine burns as well.
This is why I went to law school, and not MIT.
With my extremely limited understanding of physics and chemistry, I don't believe so.
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