Hydrogen car

[skilliyay]

I'm considering building a kart / small vehicle that will run exclusively on water, will this be tricky to do and what sort of power can you achieve?

[buildersmate]

Errr ........... virtually impossible.

[jake-the-peg]

Water is 'burnt' hydrogen.

When your hydrogen cart runs it will burn hydrogen and make water.

Water is your exhaust not your fuel.

You will need to use electricity (quite a lot of it) to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen to make the hydrogen to use.

To make a hydrogen powerred vehicle you would need to create the hydrogen as above, compress it into a tank with a compressor that would not risk detonating the hydrogen and then either create a fuel cell to generate electricity or feed it into an engine that would burn it.

Bearing this in mind it will be a lot safer, easier and cheaper to use a conventional battery and electric motor.

[skilliyay]

what do you make of this then? some sort of scam?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CONVERT-UR-CAR-TO-RUN-ON -TAP-WATER-Petrol-Diesel-Gas_W0QQitemZ14006508 9237QQihZ004QQcategoryZ48444QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewIt em

[jake-the-peg]

Yep it's a scam and a very old one here's an example from 1989 - but it goes way back

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fuel_cell

Stanley Meyer was later successfully sued by disgruntled investors, to whom he sold "dealerships". He was convicted of "gross and egregious fraud" by an Ohio court in 1990 after the vehicle failed to work during a required demonstration of the water-fueled car .

Think about it for a moment

If you could split the oxygen and hydrogen apart with less energy than you get from burning it's a perpetual motion machine!

You are creating energy from thin air - strangely some people seem to have no problem with this - but it's much the same as creating matter from thin air and If I told you I had a machine that made donuts out of nothing you'd have me locked up.

Just goes to show a fool and his money are soon on the internet

[buildersmate]

Good analysis, Jake.

[Theland]

I wonder? Thinking along the same lines, what do you make of the claims made by "Steorn" who are having their claims appraised at the moment?
http://www.steorn.net/frontpage/default.aspx