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gardenstate
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Powering Cars from Soda Cans and Water!
#20984774 - 12/16/14 02:00 PM (9 years, 5 months ago) |
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Came across an interesting read today! Researches have discovered that Gallium (an awesome metal that melts and room temp!) Reacts with Aluminum to create an alloy. The structural integrity of the alloy is much softer and can turn aluminum into into a crumbling mess of dust. The even more interesting, "When water is added to the alloy, the aluminum splits water by attracting oxygen, liberating hydrogen in the process." So you can create Hydrogen from aluminum and water (cheap) and still recover the Gallium (expensive).
The Result: Water Aluminum = Hydrogen
And Hydrogen can be used to power many vehicles! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle
Interesting read and thoughts for the future! What's your take on this?
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koods
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Re: Powering Cars from Soda Cans and Water! [Re: gardenstate] 1
#20987928 - 12/17/14 04:35 AM (9 years, 5 months ago) |
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That doesn't sound cheap at all. Aluminum metal is very expensive to make from its ore, aluminum oxide. This reaction oxidizes the metallic aluminum and all the energy used to make the metal is lost as heat.
Quote:
Aluminum production is the largest consumer of energy on a per-weight basis and is the largest electric energy consumer of all manufactured products. The U.S. aluminum industry directly consumes 45.7 x 109 kilowatt hours (0.16 quad) of electricity annually or 1.2 percent of all the electricity consumed by the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of the U.S. economy. This is equivalent to the electricity consumed by 5,222,000 U.S. households annually.
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/11/f4/al_theoretical.pdf
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NotSheekle said “if I believed she was 16 I would become unattracted to her”
Edited by koods (12/17/14 04:39 AM)
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Prisoner#1
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Re: Powering Cars from Soda Cans and Water! [Re: koods]
#20988068 - 12/17/14 07:09 AM (9 years, 4 months ago) |
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gallium is also expensive as fuck, around $20/gram
it's cheaper to power a car with crystal meth
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gardenstate
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Re: Powering Cars from Soda Cans and Water! [Re: Prisoner#1]
#20988308 - 12/17/14 08:50 AM (9 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Prisoner#1 said: gallium is also expensive as fuck, around $20/gram
it's cheaper to power a car with crystal meth
Well you can recover gallium after the alloy has been used, and I believe aluminum to be a much cheaper and less destructive source than fossil fuels. I am no chemist by any means but I thought it was an interesting idea and was curious what everyone's thoughts on it were.
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Fusty Ruckers
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Re: Powering Cars from Soda Cans and Water! [Re: gardenstate]
#20988460 - 12/17/14 09:33 AM (9 years, 4 months ago) |
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Had a guy supposedly make a car that ran on water, and died mysteriously thereafter http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Meyer%27s_water_fuel_cell sounds a little too good to be true, but was sone interesting ccircumstances, from what i remember
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psi
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Re: Powering Cars from Soda Cans and Water! [Re: gardenstate]
#20988471 - 12/17/14 09:36 AM (9 years, 4 months ago) |
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Why would you believe that aluminum would be a much cheaper and less destructive energy source than fossil fuels?
(Electricity generation, includes fossil fuels) -> (Aluminum refinement using huge amounts of electricity) -> (Hydrogen gas production using the aluminum as an energy source)
The aluminum step is not adding any value, you could just cut out the middleman and directly make hydrogen gas from the water using electrolysis. You still need to get the initial energy from somewhere (hydroelectric power, nuclear, coal, etc.)
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koods
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Re: Powering Cars from Soda Cans and Water! [Re: psi]
#20988519 - 12/17/14 09:47 AM (9 years, 4 months ago) |
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It takes 12 kWh of electricity to make one kilogram of aluminum metal from alumina. That is the same amount of electricity an average home uses in one day.
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NotSheekle said “if I believed she was 16 I would become unattracted to her”
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gardenstate
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Re: Powering Cars from Soda Cans and Water! [Re: koods]
#20988651 - 12/17/14 10:19 AM (9 years, 4 months ago) |
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at $0.87 per lb I thought al would be a cheap alternative but I would absolutely trust your judgment over mine! Thought it was a cool idea but I suppose impractical
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koods
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Re: Powering Cars from Soda Cans and Water! [Re: gardenstate]
#20988712 - 12/17/14 10:32 AM (9 years, 4 months ago) |
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If it weren't for recycling, Aluminum would be a very pricey metal because reusing aluminum costs 1/20th as much as making it new from the ore.
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NotSheekle said “if I believed she was 16 I would become unattracted to her”
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