Cool Science Stuff: Burning water?

[Deety]

LINK

Salt water as fuel? Erie man hopes so
Sunday, September 09, 2007
By David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

...

John Kanzius, a Washington County native, tried to desalinate seawater with a generator he developed to treat cancer, and it caused a flash in the test tube.


Within days, he had the salt water in the test tube burning like a candle, as long as it was exposed to radio frequencies.


His discovery has spawned scientific interest in using the world's most abundant substance as clean fuel, among other uses.

...

"This is the most abundant element in the world. It is everywhere," Dr. Roy said of salt water. "Seeing it burn gives me chills."

 

[BuckeyeTillIDie]

tomorrow's headline: "Erie man missing"

 

[MaxBuck]

Unlike laws against fraud, burglary and pedophilia, the Laws of Thermodynamics CANNOT be disobeyed.

What a load of crap. What kind of "doctor" is "Dr. Roy?" A chiropractor?

 

[FCollinsBuckeye]

Unlike laws against fraud, burglary and pedophilia, the Laws of Thermodynamics CANNOT be disobeyed.

What a load of crap.

?? Did you read the article?

The water isn't burning, rather the hydrogen which is released when the H2O bond is weakened w/ radio waves - or something like that.

 

[MaxBuck]

?? Did you read the article?

The water isn't burning, rather the hydrogen which is released when the H2O bond is weakened w/ radio waves - or something like that.

So hydrogen dissasociates from the oxygen in the water, after which it recombines (burning is oxidation, which for hydrogen means combining with oxygen to form water). So no net change in state, yet energy is produced?

Like I said, a monumental load of crap. And no, I didn't waste my time by reading an article about a monumental load of crap.

 

[Big Papa]

I thought this was going to be a story about the Cuyahoga River.

 

[AKAK]

Unlike laws against fraud, burglary and pedophilia, the Laws of Thermodynamics CANNOT be disobeyed.

What a load of crap. What kind of "doctor" is "Dr. Roy?" A chiropractor?

hmmm

But researching its potential will take time and money, he said. One immediate question is energy efficiency: The energy the RF generator uses vs. the energy output from burning hydrogen.

 

[Best Buckeye]

I thought this was going to be a story about the Cuyahoga River.

I thought it WAS a story about the Cayuhoga.

 

[MaxBuck]

OK, so I wasted my time by actually reading the article about this monumental load of crap.

The key paragraph is as follows, quoting "Dr. Roy," a chemistry prof at University of Pittsburgh:

But researching its potential will take time and money, he said. One immediate question is energy efficiency: The energy the RF generator uses vs. the energy output from burning hydrogen.

Well, no shit Sherlock. It will take many times as much electrical energy to run this RF generator than the "burning hydrogen" will release. So what we have is an immense, expensive, bulky, inefficient energy wasting device. Consequently, an immense, expensive, bulky money wasting device. (It will be far more efficient at wasting money, assuming they can find some schmuck to throw cash at this nonsense.)

Monumental load of crap. My respect for the chemistry department at Pitt just dropped about two quanta.

 

[sandgk]

Unlike laws against fraud, burglary and pedophilia, the Laws of Thermodynamics CANNOT be disobeyed.

I don't believe they have been.

What a load of crap.

A newspaper article isn't the best report to take on this type of thing, but that doesn't mean you have to impugn the reputation of anyone quoted in the article such as ...

What kind of "doctor" is "Dr. Roy?" A chiropractor?

Rustum Roy is one of the leading Materials Scientists in the world. Very highly respected. He is at Penn State, not Pitt.

BTW, on energy conversion efficiency, do you have a good idea on what other H2O to H2 - O2 processes tout as conversion efficiencies? The results may surprise you.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

I love a good science fight!

 

[Best Buckeye]

Wha ..? A fught? whar a fite?

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

So hydrogen dissasociates from the oxygen in the water, after which it recombines (burning is oxidation, which for hydrogen means combining with oxygen to form water). So no net change in state, yet energy is produced?

So when the zepplin Hindenburg blew up (because it was filled with hydrogen), why didn't it put itself out?

 

[sandgk]

So when the zepplin Hindenburg blew up (because it was filled with hydrogen), why didn't it put itself out?

I think you just asked the burning question.

 

[Buck Nasty]

I think you just asked the burning question.

I thought the burning question was "Why does it burn when I Pee?"

wait....

Maybe they could get energy by burning my pee.