Hi All,
I can't believe the amount of negative response that I got by
suggesting that we talk about using H2O as a fuel source. I thought that
I would just start at the beginning and explain everything step by step
but I couldn't even get past the first paragraph or two without a major
argument so lets do this a different way.
Argument #1 was that it takes just as much energy to electrolyze a
given quantity of water as is released when you burn the products of
that reaction. Ok, fair enough, let's explore that statement first.
The following problem shows how much energy is released in burning
one mole of H2 (in watts):
62,000 BTU per pound of H2 burned in air = 137.65663 BTU to the
gram of H2 so then:
450.396 Grams per pound
(137.65663 BTU per gram of H2)*(1.008 grams per mole of H2)= 138.75788
BTU per mole of H2 and therefore:
(138.75788 BTU per mole of H2)*(778.26 ftlbs per BTU)= 107989.7 ftlbs
per mole of H2 so:
107989.7 ftlbs per mole of H2 = 3.2724151 hp per mole of H2 so
then:
33,000 ftlbs per hp
(3.2724151 hp per mole of H2)*(746 watts per hp)= 2441.2216 watts per
mole of H2 and:
2441.2216 watts per mole of H2 = 2.4412216 kilowatts
1000 watts per kilowatt
Let's remember that shall we? Because now we are going to see how
much energy is needed to electrolyze an equal quantity of water. Well
actually we need to double the above figure to account for the fact that
we are using 2H2 to react with O2 and form two molecules of H2O so it is
really 4.8824432 kw.
Following is the problem that shows how much energy is required to
electrolyze one mole of water:
(68.32 kcal to electrolyze one mole of water)*(4.18*1000 [i.e.: ten to
the third power])= 285,850.88 joules to the mole of water so:
285,850.88 joules to the mole of water = 4764.1813 watts to electrolyze
one mole in one minute
1 min * 60 seconds
or 4.7641 kilowatts to do the job.
Let's review our findings, shall we? We found out above that it takes
4.7641 kilowatts of energy to electrolyze our mole of water right? Go
ahead, check my math....... Right then, we also found that when burned
our same mole of H2 will yield 4.8824432 kilowatts of energy didn't we?
Sure we did and what does that mean? Well let's see if you round up just
a bit it means that it takes 5 kilowatts of energy to electrolyze a mole
of water into H2 and O2 gas and 5 kilowatts of energy is given off when
we burn those two gasses to form one mole of water in the form of
superheated steam.
So there we have AGAIN proved the old axiom that it takes just as
much energy to electrolyze water as is given off when you burn the
products of that reaction and OPEC can breathe a sigh of relief.
But wait...actually, if we don't round the numbers off, there IS a
difference between how much energy is required to separate water into
it's component parts and how much is given off isn't there?
I grant you it isn't much of a difference but it could mean a great deal
in any attempts to use H2O as a viable source of pollution free fuel.
Stay tuned for the next installment.
MJ
--------------404A00C0548CABD2BA6210E9
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hi All,
I can't believe the amount of negative response that Igot by suggesting that we talk about using H2O as a fuel source. I thoughtthat I would just start at the beginning and explain everything step bystep but I couldn't even get past the first paragraph or two without amajor argument so lets do this a different way.
Argument #1 was that it takes just as much energy to electrolyzea given quantity of water as is released when you burn the products ofthat reaction. Ok, fair enough, let's explore that statement first.
The following problem shows how much energy is releasedin burning one mole of H2 (in watts):
62,000 BTU per pound of H2 burned inair = 137.65663 BTU to the gram of H2 so then:
450.396 Grams per pound
(137.65663 BTU per gram of H2)*(1.008 grams per mole of H2)= 138.75788BTU per mole of H2 and therefore:
(138.75788 BTU per mole of H2)*(778.26 ftlbs per BTU)= 107989.7 ftlbsper mole of H2 so:
107989.7 ftlbs per mole of H2 =3.2724151 hp per mole of H2 so then:
33,000 ftlbs per hp
(3.2724151 hp per mole of H2)*(746 watts per hp)= 2441.2216 watts permole of H2 and:
2441.2216 watts per mole of H2 = 2.4412216 kilowatts
1000 watts perkilowatt
Let's remember that shall we? Because now we are goingto see how much energy is needed to electrolyze an equal quantity of water.Well actually we need to double the above figure to account for the factthat we are using 2H2 to react with O2 and form two molecules of H2O soit is really 4.8824432 kw.
Following is the problem that shows how much energy isrequired to electrolyze one mole of water:
(68.32 kcal to electrolyze one mole of water)*(4.18*1000 [i.e.: tento the third power])= 285,850.88 joules to the mole of water so:
285,850.88 joules to the mole of water = 4764.1813 watts to electrolyzeone mole in one minute
1 min * 60 seconds
or 4.7641 kilowatts to do the job.
Let's review our findings, shall we? We found out above that it takes4.7641 kilowatts of energy to electrolyze our mole of water right? Go ahead,check my math....... Right then, we also found that when burned our samemole of H2 will yield 4.8824432 kilowatts of energy didn't we? Sure wedid and what does that mean? Well let's see if you round up just a bitit means that it takes 5 kilowatts of energy to electrolyze a mole of waterinto H2 and O2 gas and 5 kilowatts of energy is given off when we burnthose two gasses to form one mole of water in the form of superheated steam.
So there we have AGAIN proved the old axiom that it takesjust as much energy to electrolyze water as is given off when you burnthe products of that reaction and OPEC can breathe a sigh of relief.
But wait...actually, if we don't round the numbers off,there IS a difference between how much energy is required to separate waterinto it's component parts and how much is given off isn't there?
I grant you it isn't much of a difference but it could mean a greatdeal in any attempts to use H2O as a viable source of pollution free fuel.
Stay tuned for the next installment.
MJ
--------------404A00C0548CABD2BA6210E9-- ------------------------------------------------------------- To leave this list, email