[neverdem]

A molecular molybdenum-oxo catalyst for generating hydrogen from water

This abstract is so PC that it hurts.

[Mike Darancette]

A new catalyst that generates hydrogen from sea water has been developed by scientists in the US. This new metal-oxo complex displays high catalytic activity and stability, whilst being low cost, the researchers say.

"whilst"?

[Defiant]

If we use sea water to create hydrogen, and make the oceans lower, that should help counteract the melting ice caps from global warming. We will live!

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The process is called electrolysis.

[meadsjn]

Couldn’t they have just set the oil spill ablaze?

[ASOC]

LOL

We used to use Drano and tin foil - then run the rsulting H2 thru a tube full of soap flakes to dry it and then fill ballons.

Tied shut

with cannon fuse

which we lit off

just before releasing them.

[Captain Beyond]

bflr

[DarthVader]

mark for later.

[kidd]

This abstract is so PC that it hurts.

Yes, many technical magazines have lefty editors. The rank and file society members of the respective magazines want the editors ousted. Some examples are: The Journal of the American Institute of Physics, Chemical Engineering News, Nature and Science

[Blueflag]

So PC in fact he overlooks a very important fact in his first paragraph. The author wrote “ but this method produces the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.”

Well sonny, there is no more powerful and prevalent greenhouse gas than water vapour, and guess what’s produced when H2 is oxidized to release energy?!?!

Astoundingly weak.

[preacher]

Energy out = energy in - losses

[Royal Wulff]

Seawater is 1 ppm uranium...they’d be better off extracting uranium from seawater.

[babygene]

ping

[Lion Den Dan]

And whence comes the energy to conduct this catalytic reaction? What becomes of the expended catalyst and is it toxic. Molydenum, what is the energy cost to produce that and is it not toxic to a degree????? Nothing without a price.

[IamConservative]

Another claiming to have circumvented the laws of thermodynamics?

[FreePaul]

There are many ways to produce hydrogen. Is this cheaper and easier than other methods? Is this cheaper than "fossil" fuels?

As with all hydrogen schemes the question as to distribution methods will rear it's head. Hydrogen is not an easy gas to handle or transport.

[ckilmer]

I'm no scientist or chemist and I didn't study this stuff much in school and that was long ago. So would someone kindly school me.

My understanding is that the salt NaCl in salt water is in ion form. Something like Na+ and Cl- where the Na+ has an extra electron and the Cl- is lacking an electron.

The salt in ion form is stable in water.

However, the Na sodium ion stripped of its electron--in the presence of water H2O-- is exothermic .... well its explosive. If you do a google search of sodium water reaction youtube-- You can find all kinds of kids blowing up trashcans of water with sodium

So couldn't you just get a controlled combustion by stripping the sodium ion Na+ in situ --while its in water --of its extra electron. The only similarity to a gasoline combustion -- is that you'd have to add extra energy for it to work but the resulting explosion would be exothermic--ie you'd get more energy out.

You might do this by bombarding the salt water with radio waves at the resonance for sodium so as to create a synthetic catalyst.

Kanzius bombarded saltwater at 13.56 MHz -- the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance for Oxygen--which released the hydrogen out of H20. (Likely because the radio wave also heated up Na+ in solution--as would a microwave oven heat a metal.) But what would happen if you bombarded saltwater at the NMR for sodium.

Just a thought.

But the gist of the question is this: why can't you make a controlled combustion with salt water by stripping out the extra electron from the Na+ sodium ion.

(There would likely be three problems 1.)stripping the ion. 2.)controlling the combustion 3.) sorting out the waste)

[SunkenCiv]

Significantly, Long's catalyst is also stable in the presence of impurities that can be found in the ocean, meaning that sea water can be used without pre-treatment. The team used a sample of California sea water in the system and found the results to be similar to the results obtained for water at neutral pH.

The luddites will be out in force to get a seawater electrolysis ban. Thanks neverdem.

• AG demands climate documents from UVa