Posted on 05/23/2006 9:27:27 AM PDT by floridaobserver
Though the developer of a technology that uses water to produce a flammable gas says it provides a solution to high gas prices plaguing the nation, detractors claim the businessman's idea is a scam.
Denny Klein is president of Hydrogen Technologies Applications in Clearwater, Fla. His patented machine uses an electrical charge to separate the atoms of H2O into HHO, a gas he calls "Aquygen."
"You get a huge energy response," Klein told the Tampa Tribune. "But this gas is very, very safe."
He first used the fuel to power a welding tool, but soon tried it out in a hybrid automobile.
The flame, though on its own registers just 259 degrees Fahrenheit, heats up to the melting point of whatever substance it touches, explained Steve Lusko, project manager for Hydrogen Technologies Applications.
"For example, when you ignite our flame and touch it to steel, it will cut right through it at 1,400 degrees," Lusko told WND.
"It will melt a hole right through a brick at 4,500 degrees. … It reacts to whatever it touches."
So, Lusko says, the gas has the ability to bond to whatever fuel it is mixed with, like gasoline in a hybrid car.
"Upon combustion, you get a dramatic increase in energy BTUs," he said, "and you get an equally dramatic decrease in emission pollution, because the burn is so highly efficient, what would have come out of the tailpipe as an emission ends up getting burned up and used."
An "electrolyzer" in Klein's 1994 Ford Escort uses electricity from the alternator to initiate the electrolysis process to make the HHO gas out of water, explained Lusko. That gas is then pumped to the manifold and into the gas tank.
"The gas then bonds with the gasoline in the gas tank," Lusko said, "and then upon combustion, that's when you get the reaction, giving you higher gas mileage and cleaner emissions."
Why not run a car with exclusively HHO gas?
"We have combustion engines here that have run completely on our Aquygen," Lusko said, "but it would be a matter of engineering."
Lusko says in tests the mileage of the hybrid vehicle has improved anywhere from 25 to 53 percent.
I've seen this written up before, but that link is the best job I've seen on the perils of dihydrogen monoxide. Thanks for the link.
So who wants to be first to poor some water in their gas tank and see if it runs like a rocket?
Yes, but..... if you send me your bank account number and password, my friend in Nigeria will wire you 12 million dollars he inherited from his Uncle, who used to be the Finance Minister of Sierra Leone, and in return for laundering his money, he'll allow you to keep 10% or 1.2 million dollars!
And not only that, but if you sign up today, he'll also send you a herbal remedy known only to the medicine men of Fookarwi tribe that will make you pen*s twice as long.....
There are scams, and then there are transparent scams; this crap is of the latter variety, and anyone who doesn't instantly recognize it as such ought look in the mirror and ask themsleves "WTF is my problem? WHy am I this gullible?"
Hey! That's Lowbridge's job.
I'll take door #2.
Remember Joe Newman and his energy machine? How many of those are in operation and powering up houses? Of course, if you asked old Joe about this, he would still maintain that it's legit.
I would still like to believe that someone will come up with a viable solution to the energy problem. As the saying goes, "Hope springs eternal."
But will it harm their precious bodily fluids?
Presumably electrolysis produces 2H2 and O2 from liquid water. A relatively small volume of water produces a large volume of oxygen. The oxygen is available to oxidize both the hydrogen and any other available fuel (gasoline). It might be possible to build a small engine with high horsepower using this process.
Engines normally require approx 15 parts of air (16% oxygen) per part of fuel. Pure oxygen allows a much richer mixture, generating more work.
Interesting concept with lots of problems associated with implementation. Most engine materials (metals, oils, fuels, gaskets etc) behave as fuels in the presence of oxygen and heat. It would seem everything would have to be made of ceramic.
I am a chemist and this is a scam.
Apparently this or a similar gas has been around since the 60's. Search for Browns' gas or Rhodes gas. It is an interesting gas and several companies sell machines that generate the gas.
"1400 degrees ! Bwhahahahahah! Why the stuff isn't even soft yet."
http://education.jlab.org/qa/meltingpoint_01.html
Depends on if it is C or F degrees. If C, than he is right.
Yeah, right. So it melts your engine cylinders as soon as you start the car.
An "electrolyzer" in Klein's 1994 Ford Escort uses electricity from the alternator to initiate the electrolysis process to make the HHO gas out of water, explained Lusko. That gas is then pumped to the manifold and into the gas tank.
It's a good thing alternators run on magic.
The video claims that very thing. So let me ask you this:
1) If the flame "registers 259 degF" how can it be warm to the touch?
2) When they put the flame on the tip of the thermometer, why did the thermometer not melt?
3) How does this "warm" flame know to raise its temperature to that of melting steel, but then to remain warm when applied to skin?
Conservation of mass/energy; it's not just a good idea, it's the law!
Hydrogen can be released from water through an electronic process. However, the process utilizes more energy than you could get back by burning the hydrogen. Chemically, you have H20, which you can split into H2 and O. HHO is not a valid molecular combination. In water, you can chemically make H+ and OH-, but only by combining the hydrogens with some other chemical to make an acid or a base. H2SO4, for instance is Hydrochloric Acid, which is used in lead acid batteries. You can't make HHO, because hydrogen in a gas form becomes H2(not HH, which would spontaneously combine into H2), and if you have H2+O and a heat source, you get H2O.
Why does it take more energy to split H20 into H2 and O than you get if you burn H20? Because H20 is a very stable molecule. Oxygen needs two electrons, and hydrogen has an extra, so you get a strong covalent bond where the hydrogens share their electrons with the oxygen to make a stable molecule. Breaking this bond requires energy. Mixing H2 and O and applying fire creates H2O, and releases the energy that you put into separating them in the first place. Of course, some of this energy is lost to entropy in the separation, and some more is lost in the recombining. So the net effect is that you put in some amount of energy to separate the atoms, but if you burn the product, you never can get out the amount of energy you put into it in the first place, so it would be more efficient to just use the energy you are using to separate the water molecules to drive the car.
Note also that Oxygen in a gas combines spontaneously into O2 and O3(ozone). So, if for some reason you mixed your liberated electrolyzed gases you'd be more likely to get H2 O2 and O3, a very explosive mixture that with a tiny amount of heat or spark would create a nifty little explosion resulting in H2O and heat being released. There really is no safe way to store mixed hydrogen and oxygen. If there were, the Hindenburg would still be sitting in a museum gathering dust somewhere.
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