Cars That Run On Water - You Bet!

When I came upon the first discussion of this subject, I began to encounter snarky posts from arm chair physicists, and faux savants who condescended to explain to lesser minds that a hydrogen fueled internal combustion vehicle that ran on water was not possible.

Well, tonight I'm here to tell you that it is possible, it really isn't very complicated, that the technology already exists, and is well within reach.

Before posting the link, I would like to remind all who came to the Pickens Plan to to scoff, that contempt prior to investigation is the hallmark of fools.

http://www.physorg.com/news98556080.html

If we can dream it. We can do it.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Longhorns Fan on July 14, 2008 at 8:32pm: It's clear from your post that you too are shooting from the hip without having read the article.

Please don't embarrass yourself any more than you already have. No one needs another faux savant bulletin board guru. READ THE ARTICLE before you post a response. Thanks.

http://www.physorg.com/news98556080.html

C Tenney Doble said:
Sure, you can recover hydrogen and oxygen from aluminum, but you are only getting back what the aluminum refiners have put into it at the time of manufacture. I have studied the HOH gas, and find that it can be VERY dangerous. Flame speeds through Brown's gas can reach 10,000 feet/sec. However, windmills can electrolize water, oxygen and hydrogen can be made separately, and cars can be made to run VERY well on hydrogen, getting the oxygen from the atmosphere, and producing only water vapor out the tailpipe. BMW has made a car now that runs on liquid hydrogen-check Youtube. No cat converter needed, etc.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Frank on July 14, 2008 at 8:34pm: Wow, this is awesome news. I bet someone inclined enough could produce the aluminum/gallium alloy himself and modify a car for personal use. I may have to look into some of the chemistry behind this.

ATTN: This isn't HHO bullshit. A researcher at Purdue figured out a new way of generating hydrogen from water chemically not electrically. He added gallium to aluminum to prevent the aluminum from forming a protective oxide layer, enabling the aluminum to rapidly oxidize and release hydrogen gas.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by goneaway on July 14, 2008 at 8:35pm: unnnn huh

In hydrogen combustion vehicles they make the hydrogen with water and electricity at a station and it is pumped in the tank under high pressure

http://world.honda.com/FuelCell/HomeEnergyStation/HomeEnergyStation...

http://world.honda.com/news/2005/c051114.html

I really doubt a couple bubbling pellets in a gas tank full of water is going to match a pressurized fuel cell

but umm try it and tell us how it all works out for you.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Longhorns Fan on July 14, 2008 at 8:40pm: Wow! Another hip shooter... READ THE ARTICLE before you post.

http://www.physorg.com/news98556080.html

Contempt prior to investigation is the hallmark of a fool John. What oil outfit do you work for?

John Penry said:
HHO, Brown's gas, have been around for decades.
This type of scam does not belong on this website.
I urge you to prove that it works before posting this stuff.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Longhorns Fan on July 14, 2008 at 8:47pm: Please read the article regarding the Purdue research. They do a great job of explaining how it works.

http://www.physorg.com/news98556080.html

Jerry Smith said:
Please tell me how cars could run on water; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jim D on July 14, 2008 at 9:05pm: The article certainly has some merit. They are short of real world practical specifics though and thats what makes it a university research project.

They don't talk about the costs of gallium in the process only stating that the cost of aluminum can be reduced by converting alumina back to aluminum at an onsite nuclear power plant. That also ignores the cost of processing aluminum that they talk about earlier. Aluminum is in short supply now and the price @$1.49 per pound is rising with the short supply. The article states that their methods are not competitive with $3 a gallon gas with aluminum @$1/lb. Where the the alumina recycling nuclear power plant near by to me? Where is the water stored and how much is necessary? Where is the excess hydrogen gas stored and how? Where do I go with my 350 pound tank to trade it in for another one and how much does that cost? (the trade in process not the 350 pounds of aluminum)

Aluminum depends on huge amounts of cheap electricity from coal and hydroelectric power.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/07/11/coal-shortage-morp...

Hopefully they can morph this into real technology.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Pronto Power on July 14, 2008 at 9:16pm: I think someone needs to remember that you need a lot of electricity to turn aluminum oxide into aluminum.....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alan Steinhauer on July 14, 2008 at 9:27pm: I think a large part of the cost of aluminum is the cost of the electricity to extract it from alumina. But maybe it's a better way to store energy than a battery charged off the electric power grid.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Markie on July 15, 2008 at 4:53am: 2 Cool!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by James (Nick) Kiser on July 15, 2008 at 5:06am: If a car is to run off water, the only logical idea would be to use ocean water. The deplete our fresh water further would be a terrible idea. Just look at the Colorado River. But ocean water is an unused resource. We just have to figure out a way to make an engine out of something other than metal.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John Penry on July 15, 2008 at 9:18am: some key facts about this "discovery". It is not available now, and will be decades. Besides, if you read the article, you will find "assuming the alumina is converted back to aluminum on-site at a nuclear power plant.". Not sure about you, but they don't put up nuke plants on street corners around here.
I heard Dr. Dennis Waitly talk about Hydrogen Powered cars in 1978. They were "about 30 years out" back then, and they are still , and will forever be "about 30 years out". Read up on the Hype. Californians call it "the Myth of Hydrogen". Hydrogen to run a fuel cell requires such high grades that it would be an astronomical price. Come back with a solution that is available today.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Longhorns Fan on July 15, 2008 at 10:02am: Yes, I agree that ocean water would be the best choice. I have no idea if desalination would be necessary to supply "fuel grade" water, but suspect that it would.

Please bear with me as I reply to another poster as well. I don't want to waste too much space on him. When he first posted, he shot from the hip without having read the article, dismissing the idea completely. Having read the article, he now knows it IS absolutely possible. With that knowledge, he dismisses the idea as impractical.

Had the Wright brothers listened to nay sayers like this old crank, the history of the discovery that made it possible for humans to fly may have been written very differently.

I rather suspect that one could pair clean alternative energy sources with the recovery of aluminum. We have an enormous reserve of free hydrogen power that could facilitate the process of aluminum recovery at relatively low cost. The source has been active for billions of years, and will be available for billions of years.

Once one gets past the conventional wisdom that what has just been discovered isn't possible, the challenge of aluminum recovery which we know IS possible becomes far less daunting in terms of its potential viability.

I can't believe the level of negative thinking and lack of vision among so many posters. At the end of the day, these folks will get a free ride on the back of folks who ultimately roll up their sleeves and make things happen.

James (Nick) Kiser said:
If a car is to run off water, the only logical idea would be to use ocean water. The deplete our fresh water further would be a terrible idea. Just look at the Colorado River. But ocean water is an unused resource. We just have to figure out a way to make an engine out of something other than metal.; ▶ Reply to This