It may be easier than we previously thought.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/02/13/hydrogen.reactors.ap/index.html

Hmmm Borghunter that is interesting. Ethanol is a two carbon molecule that is an alcohol (has an OH to it). It has two carbons, six hydrogens, and one oxygen. Usually it takes electricity to separate water (H2O) into H2 and O. And when they are combined back together again you get electricity and heat. When you burn hydrogen (combine it with oxygen) you get water and heat. Ok. A chemical reactor, hmmm, :) Ah yes chemicals. So what is the carbon chemical byproduct of this chemical reactor and what does it take to make this byproduct safe for the environment? And where does your fuel cell get its oxygen to combine with the hydogen to make water and electricity. Normally this comes from liquid oxygen and this is made from liquid air. And again this requires energy. And a car that is running on fuel cells is carrying two highly explosive gasses that are under pressure. They told us that nucear reactors were the cheap energy of the future. They had turbine engines (all the car companys did) in the fiftys, weight 60 to 70 lbs, 225 horses, 150 to 200 miles to the gallon, run on most anything, and generated very little pollution. Go figure. You are right Borghunter! "War is peace". Love, Michael

My alma mater makes good! We might have something there. A decent source of hydrogen has always been the problem with hydrogen powered cars.

Maybe if this turns into something big they won't need to ask me for donations anymore. Yeah right.

You must be dreaming, Lionel .... a college going to stop asking for donations? That's as far fetched as a lawyer ...

Heck, I pledged $30 to the public radio station connected to Miami (Ohio) University and I started getting alumni magazines. I've never even seen the school!

I added my support to Public Radio stations in San Antonio and Buffalo. Here in GA, it's a different setup, and not at all the same quality stations.

What about Plazma Pinch engines on a flywheel? They run on plain old water, generate their own electricity with a static electricity generator, and create a bunch of extra power to the drive shaft. They are simple, efficient, and "Zero" pollution. Great for generating cheep electricity for your electric car. :) Michael

Originally posted by acaveyogi
What about Plazma Pinch engines on a flywheel? They run on plain old water, generate their own electricity with a static electricity generator, and create a bunch of extra power to the drive shaft. They are simple, efficient, and "Zero" pollution. Great for generating cheep electricity for your electric car. :) Michael

Sounds like a perpetual motion machine.

No BorgHunter you have to give a kick to start it and you have to keep water in the fuel tankl And it has to be shielded because it gives off radio waves that could screw up your neighbors TV and radio. But the shielding also acts as a condenser and you can reuse most of the water that you are using for fuel. Yes I cobbled one together and yes it worked, kind of like the Wright brothers airplane. Why didn't I push it? You, I don't need to explain the why too. You already know. BorgHunter do you want to go pards? I ain't doing this myself. :) Michael

Sorry? I'm not sure what you're talking about...wait, unless you mixed me and Lionel up.

Apparently he did. So how does the water power the flywheel?

Sorry BorgHunter and Lionel I got so excited that I forgot who I was talking to. Argg! The truth is we don't have enough money to build a prototype, not that I know how much money that would take because I don't. But the concept is interesting.

Basically what we would be doing is reinventing the steam engine. NASA uses Nirogen as a fuel in their Plasma Pinch engines. And they use them to jocky things around in space. Their engines are pretty high tech. What I propose is pretty low tech.

The plasma pinch princible is based on two metal plates with a DC high voltage potential between the two of them. When a gass is introduced from the side between these two plates the electrons are stripped off the atoms and the atoms are slammed toward the center of the area between these two plates. Now if your two plates are funnel shaped the gasses go out through the hole in the bottom funnel shaped plate at extremely high velocity. Now introduce water into the side, then the water molecule is ripped apart into two hydrogens and an oxygen, pushed to the center and out the back where they come back together and form supper heated steam. You get two bangs for your buck. :)

Now if you put some of of these little engines (and the shouldn't have to be very big) on a heavy flywheel and get the flywheel turning with a constant push the flywheel becomes a mass generator (object in motion has a tendency to stay in motion) and the longer it runs the more efficient. Now once you get the wheel moving your challenge is to slow it down because it will keep moving faster and faster. You have to put a load on it or it will tear itself apart. :)

Now in an ideal world you would hook a water hose to the hollow axel and the centrifical force of the spinning wheel would feed the water into your engines and your magnetos for electrical source would be on the wheel. that is basically it. acaveyogi