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Old 08-04-2012, 08:31 PM  
2MuchMark
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 50,043
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikesouth View Post
Are people this stupid really? Even a basic physics class demonstrates that the energy required to separate the Oxygen and Hydrogen in water is greater than the energy that can be gotten by burning both in controlled explosions.
Exactly.

I used to do this experiment myself when I was 7 years old - no kidding. I used to play with batteries, 200-in-1 electronic kits and even a basic chemistry set.

I put 2 test tubes in a plastic bucket of water, turned them upside down, and inserted a single wire into each tube, connecting the other end of the wires to the + and - of a battery.

After a while, bubbles appeared on the wires. One was oxygen bubbles, the other was hydrogen bubbles. It produced Hydrogen twice as fast as oxygen (Can anyone guess why?). It took forever but eventually I got enough to make a POOF when I took a match to it.

Anyway, there is too much energy loss and therefore not efficient. Pure water doesn't conduct electricity well. Saltwater is better but it would wreck a car or parts of it very fast. There are much cheaper ways to get Hydrogen.

This Indian guy? He's a scammer.
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