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A Hydrogen car is an automobile which uses hydrogen, generally obtained from water using electrolysis, as its primary source of power for locomotion. The main benefit of using pure hydrogen as a power source is that it uses oxygen from the air to produce only water vapor as exhaust. (This has absolutely nothing to do with fusion of hydrogen.)
Some hydrogen cars currently exist, but a significant amount of research has to be undertaken to make the technology viable. The common internal combustion engine, usually fueled with gasoline (petrol) or diesel liquids, can be converted to run on the gaseous hydrogen. However, the most efficient use of hydrogen involves the use of fuel cells and electric motors instead of a traditional engine. Hydrogen would react with oxygen inside the fuel cells, which would produce electricity to power the motors.
High speed cars, buses, submarines, and space rockets already run on hydrogen. Nuclear submarines use the hydrogen in ocean water for fuel. Processing machines can turn ice on the moon into oxygen, drinkable water, and hydrogen rocket fuel. This would turn the moon into a hydrogen refueling station.
Three major obstacles exist in the development of a fuel cell-powered hydrogen car. The first problem is that hydrogen has a very low density. Even when the fuel is stored as a liquid in a cryogenic tank or in a pressurized tank as a gas, hydrogen cars have limited range compared to their conventional counterparts. Some research has been done into using special crystalline materials to store hydrogen at greater densities and with better safety margins.
Instead of storing molecular hydrogen on-board, some have advocated using hydrogen reformers to extract the hydrogen from more traditional fuels including methane, gasoline, and ethanol. Many environmentalists are irked by this idea, as it promotes continued dependence on fossil fuels (at least in the case of gasoline). However, given an efficient reforming process, a vehicle using reformed gasoline or ethanol to power fuel cells would still be more efficient than vehicles running internal combustion engines.
The second major problem involves the fuel cells that would provide electric power in a hydrogen car. Scientists are also working hard to figure out how to produce inexpensive fuel cells that are also robust enough to survive the bumps and vibrations that all automobiles have to handle. Most fuel cell designs are fragile and can't survive in such environments. Also, many designs require rare substances such as platinum in order to work properly.
The third problem is that while hydrogen can be used as an energy carrier, it is not an energy source. It must be produced from fossil fuels, or from some other energy source. Since all energy sources have drawbacks, a shift into hydrogen powered vehicles will require difficult political decisions on how to produce this energy.
An existing conventional car cannot easly be converted to run from hydrogen, due to a number of inherent differences in the technologies. Other renewable energy sources, like biodiesel, are more practical for existing automobile conversions.
Despite these problems, President George W. Bush is optimistic that these problems could be overcome with research. In his State of the Union adress, he announced the U.S. government's hydrogen fuel initiative which complements the President's existing FreedomCAR initiative, for safe and cheap hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
The Hydrogen Cracker solves the problems of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell. Instead of a bulky hydrogen tanks, or methane, gasoline, and ethanol fuel, it runs on ordinary water directly. The gas tank is filled with water from a garden hose. The water is boiled by an electric heater. The resulting hot water vapor passes into an electrolysis chamber. There, the vapor (H2O) is split or 'cracked' into hydrogen (H) gas and oxygen (O2) gas. The gases are seperated when theyare attracted to the two opposite poles of the electromagnetic electrolysis chamber. The H and O2 gases go into two sepearte chambers. By themeslves, they are just as flammable as gasoline. The hydrogen gas passes into the 4 cylinders, where it is ignited by the spark plugs. The oxygen gas is ignited in to the remaining 2 cylinders. The small explosions caused by the two gases drive the pistons, just like a gasoline powered engine.
The hydrogen cracker is simpler, more dependable, sturdier, and cheaper than the hydrogen fuel cell. It's a much older and more obvious technology. The hydrogen flame is high purity - a clear or invisible flame. Compare this to a blue gas flame. The blue color is the impurities being burned up. JPL Labs tested and developed the hydrogen cracker. The hydrogen cracker has water vapor emissions - no pollution. It can run on sea water and rain water too.
An additional benefit of the hydrogen cracker is that the customer doesn't have to buy a new car. The hydrogen cracker device is fitted into the customer's gas car between the tank and engine. The cylinders are disconnected and reconnected to the hydrogen cracker. The gas tank is drained of gasoline and the gas is relplaced with water. These minor adjustments take only minutes. This is much cheaper and more practical than buying a new car. The customer saves money every year in gas he no longer has to pay for.
BMW's hydrogen internal-combustion cars burn hydrogen directly, with no other fuels and pure water vapor exhaust. Their hydrogen car has more power and is faster than hydrogen fuel cell electric cars. The BMW hydrogen car is a slightly modified version of the gas internal combustion engine. A BMW hydrogen car broke the speed record for hydrogen cars at 300 km/h, making automotive history.
However the major car companies like DaimlerChrysler and General Motors Corp, are investing in the slower and weaker hydrogen fuel cells instead. Hydrogen fuel cells run on methane, gas, and ethanol, while hydrogen internal-combustion cars run on hydrogen only. The major car manufacturers were bought out by oil companies who don't want to lose gas profits.
In the future, oil wells will eventually run dry. There won't be any gasoline left on earth. Hydrogen, ethanol, shale, refined tar, and other fuel alternatives (see Renewable energy) will take the place of gasoline. Today, rising gas prices show that the shortage is beginning. When the rising price of gas gets high enough, the hydrogen car will become more attractive and marketable. No one knows when all the fossil fuels will be used up, because whenever a new oil well is discovered, it pushes back the date.
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