Water / Hydrogen power

I am just an average guy who remember's high school chemistry enough to recall how our teacher used electrolysis to split Hydrogen and Oxygen from water.
I'm curious about making an on-demand fuel system from water.
I can't seem to find a simple answer to a simple question - how much electricity does it take to split the atoms?
I'm sure it can be expressed in a ratio like it takes X electricity (watts) to turn 1 gallon of water to H2 and O.
Help would be appreciated, I've talked to engineers and professors and can't get a straight answer.

 

well, just knowing that it takes more energy to split it than the end product yields.

 

Eh.. Maybe?

If you learn about classical physics laws you find out about the conservation of energy and such. This proclaims you can just add and remove energy into a system it has to come from somewhere. Keeping this in mind it seems like its impossible. But there are some theories floating around about Water Fuel Cells, basically a water fuel cell is a giant capacitor with water in it that people are trying to get to resonant to create instability within the water molecules between the plates to cause electrolysis. Some believe this taps into the unknown quantum physics realm of zero point energy (ZPE). Stan Meyer claimed to have created a WFC car but it disappeared shortly after his death, which some claim to be a conspiracy but thats completely irrelevant to this. Check out www.waterfuelcell.org or some videos on youtube

Interesting concept and I would like to see someone successfully produce a working model but I have some doubts about the theory behind it. But hey maybe I am wrong *shrugs*

Hope some of that helps

 

It's a secret because they don't want you to know we can power the whole galaxy from a bottle of Aquafina...

 

When we were out at the salt flats a few montsh ago. They had some streamliners there. One was from Ohio State universty. Hydrogen powerd. We were there for a week, I never saw it leave there pit area. We went over an looked at it. Talk about a total waste of time an money, it had more wires and tanks then a 747.

 

There are rumblings heard on the 'net that there are cars running around on HHO electrolyzed from water. It is much easier to do on a carburetor engine. Hell, the Mythbozos even showed it on the episode where there were testing mileage enhancing devices... They decided to see if their old beater would run on H2, took a tank of it and ran the hose to the intake of the carb. and it ran. The key to electrolysis that produces enough to run even a small 4 cyl. is, as had been mentioned, modulating the power input. Meyer's patents are now public domain, it has been 17 years since his death.

 

for vehicle power you'd probably do far better with this:

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

 

That sounds kick ass, especially if it works well.

 

Still not zero emissions and dependent on on fossil fuel...

 

Electric

Personally, (I am an computer engineer) I think we should use electric motors to drive things. The energy is there we just need to develop more efficient ways to store it (ie: battery or capacitor) and then apply it to larger modes of transportation than a Segway. Look up the Tesla Roadster its a perfect example aside from the ridiculous price tag on it. Granted I realize that most of our nation's electricity is powered by power plants operating with fossil fuels but why not create more nuclear plants or hydroelectric plants.

I just don't think we are looking hard for a solution to our fossil fuel dependency ... Sorry about the rant I just have read some on the topic and its definitely going to become an issue in my lifetime.

 

All our engines currently in use will convert to hydrogen easily- carburetor vehicles simple and relatively easy for FI vehicles . If these electrolysis cells that seem to promise hydrogen volumes yielding energy greater than the electric power that we input, every car and truck could be converted, just like the fleet vehicles that run on propane. No huge re-engineering projects necessary.

 

'There is no free lunch'

 

Just like using batteries to sart the gasoline combustion process, I'm sure some outside energy to get the process started can be converted simlarly to a car charging system.
Crower's 6 stroke uses water injection to compress the water and cause the rapid expansion every other stroke or so, doesn't technically 'burn' the elements, but interesting conecpt.
Beare's 6 stroke engine is fascinating - reduces the drag on the top end that the poppet and spring setup create. I'm not familiar enough with the bikes he modified to know whether the modifications he made actually improved the performance, I seem to recall a motorcyclist magazine editor ran it on the track (I think his comment was it was pretty cool the way it made power, neat sound, but not all that impressive otherwise).
I appreciate all the input, can anyone provide the formula? or help find out where to find the formula. LOL Lots of great discussion.

 

God help us all if we find an "economical" way to convert water into hydrogen for fuel.

If the thought of a world oil shortage scares you, try a world water shortage...

 

The result of 'burning' Hydrogen and oxygen from water is water, heat, Carbon Dioxide which is healthy for the plents and trees.

 

Don't let Al Gore hear you say that.

 

Professors couldn't help, and you thought you would find the correct answer on a motorcycling racing forum?

 

There are some smart-ish people here...

BTW- What is a "plent"?

 

You may be interested in this:

http://world.honda.com/FuelCell/FCX/station/

 

The laws of physics don't allow for a perpetual motion machine (the name usually used for a device that violates one or both of the first two laws of thermodynamics). Nuclear submarines do run for decades on a few pounds of fuel. I wonder if research into nuclear fusion isn't more productive than any of the technologies mentioned so far. As I understand it fusion could generate huge amounts of power while producing helium and short half-life radioactive materials as waste.

I plan to keep racing my two-stroke. Screw Al Gore!