Want to see what Pam sees every day?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yup, just water vapor coming out.

[fargon]

2H2O is Hydrogen Peroxide.

[Pamela]

It must be the perspective making the tractor appear so large. Regulations on dimension are carved into stone, so it cannot be larger than regular semi tractor units. 13' 6" is still the max height; anything larger would strike low overpasses or snag overhead wire runs. Neither situation is a good thing.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

It's not the hydrogen, it's what comes out of the tailpipe that's the concern. I guess the exhaust from hydrogen burning is better than diesel.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Yup, just water vapor coming out.

Then, what is the concern?

[xoxoxoBruce]

BOOM!!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Don't mess with the darkside...

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

BOOM!!

Does the water explode?

I'm confused.

[xoxoxoBruce]

No, but any loose hydrogen from the tank/delivery system is dangerous. When I put in a new water heater I was getting what I thought was entrained air bubbles from the faucet. I got curious and ran the water in the bathroom sink for a minute, then shut it off and flicked my Bic. The fireball was three feet high. The sacrificial anodes that come in the heater reacted with my water when it was heated, and produced hydrogen. I read burning hydrogen isn't visible, but the explosion certainly is.

[BigV]

Hey.
What comes out of the stacks/tailpipe is just water, water vapor. Period. Not explosive, just water.

However, the fuel, hydrogen, is highly flammable of course. LEAKS of hydrogen, could be trouble, like, the Hindenburg.

Also, leaking diesel, easy to notice, hard to ignite leaking gasoline, easy to notice, easy to ignite. Leaking hydrogen, impossible to notice, and depending on the concentration, explosively easy to ignite or impossible to ignite.

Just crossed convo threads, tailpipe vs leaks.

[footfootfoot]

Perhaps I can clarify:

Gasoline is red and hydrogen is blue.

[BigV]

Hydrogen as fuel is just an energy transport material anyway.

Getting the hydrogen, which exists around us everywhere in abundance, is the hard part. Making pure H2 requires energy, even though it's right here, no digging required. Electrolysis is a common way to produce it, but then the question becomes, where did the electricity come from to break down the water? And then the same question about the provenance of the energy transport "material" of electricity? (I know it's not a material...).

Wind, solar, hydro? Those sources don't (materially, material, ha!) to an increase of CO2 emissions. But what if it's a coal fired power plant that generates the electricity that decomposes the water that produces the hydrogen that is burned to move the truck? Not as carbon-neutral now, is it?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Right, I don't think hydrogen is a viable fuel because of the high expense of producing it (money and environmental footprint)... unless oil becomes scarce.

[Undertoad]

If you could just set up a solar panel and make hydrogen all day, wouldn't that be interesting because that would be stored energy?

But it seems to me, if this worked, it would already be happening, cos smarter people than us have considered the problem in detail. Here we are talking about this shit and pretending we know what we're talking about.

[tw]

And again from thermodynamics, for every ten units of energy to make and store hydrogen, only one unit of energy does productive work.

What creates that hydrogen? Burning oil, coal, etc. Why is it clean?

Hydrogen as a fuel is only a temporary energy storage medium. It is not an energy source. And it must be used quickly because even all pipes and tanks constantly leak hydrogen.

For transportation, nothing has the energy per weight ratio that petroleum provides. That is why research into lithium (stifled since the 1960s) is now occurring in places other than Japan.

[Gravdigr]