Hydrogen Powered Oil Solution?

I think you can burn hydrogen in a sort of environmentally friendly internal combustion engine, though whether water is ever thermodynamically efficient as the hot gasses created by current technology I dunno. A fuel cell is more akin to a battery where water and hydrogen recombine ot make water and produce electricity. I dont have a link but I imagine howstuffworks is a good place it ususally is for this kinda thing.

 

Hey, first post here,

I was wondering if anyone here knows why the combination of the oxygen atoms to hydrogen atoms in the cathode of the fuel cell is really necessary. Why can't the H+ ion just rendezvous with it's electron, and bond with one other H atom and go right back into your tank as an H2 molecule? Also, why is the synthesis of water in the cathode not explosive?

 

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Ibelieve an aircraft engine has been designed on the combustion of H and O, using much the same principle as a current engine id guess.

 

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I read this interesting article yesterday.

Some environmental engineers at Penn State, have created an electronically assisted microbial fuel cell that can be used to produce Hydrogen from organic mass.

This process requires less then a tenth of the energy required to seperate hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE320050424061423&Page=3&Title=Features+-+Health+%26+Science&Topic=166

This will be a major advancment for PEM (or whatever form of fuel cell ends up hitting the market) it will still be years down the road, but it will end up making the transission away from fossil fuels easier.

 

hydrogen power wouldnt work. not yet anyway. They would get the hydrogen from water, but the process that they use to separate the H2 from the O (they shoot an electric current through water) uses more energy than burning hydrogen can produce. its not economical.

HOWEVER, if they used it in conjunction with nuclear power, it might work.

 

Read the article I posted. :H

 

There are still many technical hurdles for fuel cells before they can be adapted for cars though. One major problem for PEM cells is water managment, not enough water and the cell won't be able to conduct energy, and too much will flood the electrodes, stopping the reaction.

The cells must be made from various materials, and some don't have enough power density and others aren't as durable, I don't think any material that works well enough has been implemented yet.

Don't sell your car yet.

 

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Anyone read about bombadier beatles, they're damned interesting.....

 

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