A New Way To Produce Hydrogen 204
Iddo Genuth writes "Scientists at Pennsylvania State University and Virginia Commonwealth University are producing hydrogen by exposing clusters of aluminum atoms to water. Rather than relying on the electronic properties of the aluminum, this new process depends on the geometric distribution of atoms within the clusters. It requires the presence of 'Lewis acids' and 'Lewis bases' in those atoms (water can act as either). Unlike most hydrogen production processes, this method can be used at room temperature and doesn't require the application of heat or electricity to work. The researchers experimented with a variety of different aluminum cluster patterns, discovering three that result in hydrogen production."
Still not..... (Score:3, Informative)
Still not economically viable, but hopefully continued research in hydrogen will replace the hype about plant based ethanol, which is not really a solution (because we need to eat corn, etc).
Why? (Score:3, Informative)
A super cap can take the power as fast as you deliver it. Personally, I suspect that new highend power stations would be develop for this, so that if doing a 100km/charge, then a fill up would likely take under a minute.
What is FAR more important is that car companies MUST come up with a STANDARD HIGH-END plug AND way to plug in? IOW, the smart thing is for the industry to figure a plug that is used by all the cars, and preferably allows for automatic hook-up (car IDs self, open cap, robotic arm moves power cable in and recharges). That is why Musk really should hook up with several other small car companies and set the standard NOW. Keep in mind that a HIGH-END plug is very different than the house plug. Ideally I would put it on the back of the car, along with a trailer hitch. That would allow a person to pull a trailer with power to move across the country.
Re:Bio-chemical (Score:3, Informative)
Not really. It is reported as in range of 0.2% UP TO 6%. So it's already worse than our photovoltaic cells. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthetic_efficiency [wikipedia.org]
Re:Look up Raymond Royal Rife on resonant frequenc (Score:1, Informative)
he discovered that he could break the bonds of a molecule by electromagnetically propogating the inverse energy of the bonds itself
Wiki: Rife's claims could not be independently replicated, and active scientific interest in the devices had dissipated by the 1950s.
he's also the first man on this planet to see a virus under a microscope
Wiki: These 'small turquoise bodies' are now known to have been the cells of the bacterium Salmonella typhi. The limitations of light microscopes [wikipedia.org] are such that even the best resolution of a conventional microscope (at roughly 200 nanometers) is inadequate to visualize most viruses.
he invented the Scanning Electron Microscope to accomplish in that regard.
Wiki: The first SEM image was obtained by Max Knoll [wikipedia.org]. (About Rife: The observations were made though a specially designed optical microscope, only five of which were ever constructed.)
Don't trust the crapflood on Slashdot you see here.
Pot, meet kettle. Can't bother with the rest of your post.
Re:Al poduction consumes lots of energy (Score:2, Informative)
There ain't no free lunch (Score:4, Informative)
This is not an article about making Hydrogen cheaply or efficiently, it's an article about an unusual chemical reaction, one of whose byproducts is Hydrogen.
You cant get something for nothing. For each Hydrogen atom let off, you have to spend an atom of Aluminum. Aluminum weighs 27 times as much as Hydrogen, so for every kilogram of Aluminum you burn up you get at most 38 grams of Hydrogen. Aluminum costs almost a dollar a kilo. That makes the Hydrogen cost at least $27 a Kilo. The market price for Hydrogen is around $2 a Kilo, so this process costs about 13 times too much.
Re:Al poduction consumes lots of energy (Score:4, Informative)
Aluminum hydroxide is just hyrated aluminum oxide (alumina + water). So they are producing Al2O3. And making acids isn't free, either; that chemical energy has to come from somewhere.
Also, the reaction of acids with hydroxides doesn't produce hydrogen. It produces water and salts.
Re:Still not..... (Score:2, Informative)
No need. The reaction results in the aluminium being reverted to aluminium ore, otherwise known as bauxite. Turning it back into aluminium is the same as refining newly mined aluminium ore.
Aluminium can be recycled if it is not re-oxidized, but that is not the case here.
Re:Al poduction consumes lots of energy (Score:2, Informative)
This is preposterous. Do you really think that hydroxide and water are the same thing??