Energy Discussions 1: Water Cars
by maz on Apr 25 2007 (858 Views)Since I have seen a number a of energy related topics on the boards in the past few weeks and Mitch decided to talk about cold fusion, I decided my next few posts will be related to new/renewable energy alternatives to fossil fuels.
This particular post was inspired by the many, many electrochem. questions by Walman who also reminded me about Stanley Meyers’ work on water cars.
Yes thats right…water powered vehicles.
Now I know you are all rolling your eyes saying things like “electrolysis takes about 5 times more energy in then you get out” or “If he really invented some new form of electrolysis why don’t we all drive water cars?” and of course “Who cares? Maz is nuts anyways!”.
I would ask you naysayers to wait a bit and take a look at some of this guy’s evidence. NOTE: I don’t really buy it, but you never know. It may be possible.
So lets begin with a basic review of electrolysis, which is the separation of certain bonded atoms or molecules by running electric current across them. We are concerned here with the electrolysis of water which goes like this:
2H2O –> 2H2 + O2 Where the H2O was in liquid phase, and the hydrogen and oxygen products are in gas phase.
When you put enough electrical current across water, you add enough energy for the water to split into its ionic components. Hydrogen, being positively charged, moves toward the cathode and oxygen, being negatively charged, moves toward the anode. When hydrogen cations hit the cathode, they get reduced and form H2 gas. Oxygen hits the anode and gets oxidized, forming O2 gas.
Now the quantity of the separation is proportional to the amount of electric charge you send across. This means that the more current you send through, the more hydrogen gas you get (within limits of course). So we can all have electrolytic cells producing hydrogen to burn for our cars and homes, right? Well…not exactly. The amount of energy you get out from burning the products of the electrolysis is not greater then the amount of energy it takes to do the separation. Classical theory predicts the maximum efficiency to be between 80 and 94% See here for details
This key point is where Stanley Meyers claimed to make a breakthrough. Using his own design of an electrolytic cell, he said he gets somewhere around 1700% efficiency.
His design for the cell is different from contemporary cells in that they utilize tiny amounts of current. Half an amp, for his 1700% efficient design. The trick, it seems, is to use high voltages with low current and PULSE the current using large surface area electrodes.
Why does this supposedly work? You’ve got me there. Perhaps there’s some weird interaction driven by the strong force at the electrodes? Maybe you cold fusion enthusiasts ought to look into it with high pressure confinement. Maybe then you’ll see your fusion.
Whatever the case, and whatever your current opinion is, first watch these two videos. The first is just 2 minutes long, the second is a more serious 17 minute clip. THEN formulate your opinion. Of course I would also say you should visit the wikipedia article on Stanley Meyer
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIgOn1kRw5s
Video 2: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3333992194168790800
Obviously, I think that his ‘water fuel cell’ is pretty much a vat of crock. I am sure it is a conspiracy theorists dreamland, but then again, all the supposed “free energy” inventions are.
Except for mine of course. But that’s a secret.
P.S. If anyone reading this understands Japanese, could you please tell me what they are saying in this video?
-Maz
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