I don't think we were being mean.

Just stating fact.

While you are correct that we don't know everything, I think that saying that greater than 100% efficiency is a pipe dream and completely impossible.

100% efficiency is, in my opinion, a lofty goal. But I admit that its possible. I will put money on the statement that it is impossible in a conventional internal combustion engine.

Vacuum of space and atmospheric differences aside, perpetual motion is still perpetual motion.

I encourage thinking outside the box. I'm looking for ways to make my truck more fuel efficient to be sure. I welcome new ideas. New ideas are great. This is not.

This is a scam meant to steal your money. That I have a problem with. Big time.

 

You're right, that big yellow thing in the sky puts in most of the energy...in fact thats where the earth gets all its energy...

 

Ethanol is a joke. It'll never go anywhere.

Biodiesel is the ticket. Pure vegetable oil.

 

and most of that is wasted or deflected before it ever gets here. About 8 mins from sun to earth

btw i think this is basically a scam. I would much rather run straight hydrogen than mix it with my gasoline.

Also someone said earlier if you used solar to harvest the hydrogen then it would make the motor more efficient. this is not true either you are still using energy like axle said earlier, round robin.

That being said it would be worthwhile to see if the 2% or so energy it takes from the engine alternator to generate the hydrogen, would turn into a 10% or more MPG improvement. Then it would be worth it to install.
Finally, why have I only seen this system used on carb vehicles. I know that the originator of this thread has an efi system, is there a reason for this? The mason jar thing seems like a bad idea I dont want glass under my hood use pvc or something similar. I saw one guy get a junkyard windshield washer fluid container for his reservoir.

 

I wish that were true. We are subsidising the out of it. I am all for bio-diesel.
I know a guy who runs a fleet of vans off of nothing but recycled veggie oil that he gets paid to remove from the local fast food restaurants. He actually MAKES money from his fuel. He runs a local plumbing company.

 

It IS impossible to get 100% efficiency, not just "basically impossible." This is especially true in an internal combustion engine. You just have way too much working against you- frictional losses, cooling losses, exhaust, etc.

Listen, I hate to say it, but this REALLY has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Sure, scientific breakthroughs are made every year... but 100% efficiency isn't a scientific-breakthrough-that-is-yet-to-be-made, it's just crackpottery.

While it is true that more efficient products are made every day, none will ever reach 100% efficient, unfortunately. Even if some incredible new discovery is made that is able to draw power from another galaxy (or some other means) it's still subject to an efficiency, even if we're not sure or can't describe what that source of energy is...

Friction applies everywhere, even in space. Sure, there's no atmosphere up there (or at least a lot less up there) but fricion still applies. A spaceship going really fast still sees "drag" from all of the tiny particles flying around in space, albeit a lot less than it would in an atmosphere. Satellite orbits degrade, electrical components still have efficiencies attached, etc. etc.

No, I know ethanol from corn is a terrible idea for a replacement fuel. It's manufacturing process in inefficient, and it holds a lot less potential energy than gasoline. Even if every square inch of American farmland was changed to corn, we still wouldn't have enough to supply our demand for fuel alone, let alone food.

Speaking of processes that take a lot more energy than you get out, you know electrolysis is terribly inefficient too, right?

Except for nuclear and geothermal, that's basically correct. Nuclear plants that create hydrogen in large scales for fuel cell vehicles is an excellent option for the future IMO.

So? What's wrong with utilizing what little does make it here?

 

Well, in reality, its impossible to get 100% efficiency. In THEORY, you can get up to 100%, assuming completely ideal stuff, you know, the type of problems they give you in freshman physics...LOL

But it is not even THEORETICALLY possible to get better than 100%. I refer back to perpetual motion.

Friction in Space is pretty neat stuff really.

One of my astrophysics professors had this theory about powering spaceships with self created black holes, and using the gravity to pull themselves along. Problem is that with his idea, the spaceship would have to be several kilometers in diameter. At the speeds it would be capable of, if the space ship were to approach a planet in another solar system straight on, ie, most direct path, the spaceship's hull would shorten the photons from the systems star from the visible range to gamma, and would photo ablate the atmosphere.

Ooops.

 

Ok guys, I filled my gas tank up with water, that did bad things so I tried dumping water in the intake. I figured 4 litres would last me a while. I started up and right away, it cranked loudly. It MUST be working! My exhasut then turned blue, so the engine did convert the water to oil. WOW! No need to invade Iran now. i drove around the block and it was the engine ran badly. Now it won't start. I switching to plasma drive next week.

Bye for now. Beam me up Scotty.

 

Actually, just plain diesel would be a huge start! When I go to our plant in Hungary, I am amazed at the diesel cars over there - you can't even tell, quiet, smooth, no smoke - but they're getting 40+ MPG ... throw in the option of biodiesel (or better yet, pure grease) and you've got a real viable solution to a major part of the oil issues without the infrastructure that hydrogen or other alternatives will cost.

 

It's really stupid if you think about it, when countries like the US and Canada don't let diesel cars in because they don't meet pollution standards. Carbon dioxide makes up the bulk of gases responsible for climate change. Diesel may let of more "pollutants" per litre burned, but fewer litres are a burned in a diesel because they are more efficient.

 

Funnier still, CO2 is not the number one green house gas.

H2O is.

Care to hazard a guess as to what the byproduct of burning Hydrogen is?

Alternative energy will only go if the demand is there. Gas is not expensive enough yet for people to care. Wait until it hits 10 bucks a gallon. I predict it will hit that high in 10 years. (thats just a total guess, no facts to back it up, but just a quick back of the napkin on how prices have risen since 2000).

Thats when alternatives will come out, and the oil barons will fall. I will relish the day.

Don't get me wrong, I love capitalism. But there is nothing so satisfying as watching the mighty fall.

Except in the case of Brittany Speers. She looked a lot better when she was on top. I want her to get back up there, so she can clean herself up and look good again.

 

Oh yeah?

 

I have some customers here from Germany - gas there is 1.5 euro per liter.

That's $9.08/gallon

 

diesel engines were actually designed to run off of vegetable oil. (oils from hemp and other seeds) in 1912? i think it was invented.

 

ummm beatenyota, your screename is appropriate I guess ... see post 72 in this thread ... it was peanut oil.

 

Peanuts are vegetables. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

 

oh YEAH!

 

Corn crop will be good this year...

 

I love that someone brought this up. so many think it is fine if we pump water vapor into the atmosphere. You think co2 is bad at least that is used by something(plants). All that excess vapor will really mess stuff up. In short we need a multitude of different engines for our vehicles. like they say "anything in excess is bad". You can die from drinking too much water seriously check it out "water poisoning", and a glass of wine or beer a day can be good but you drink too much and you get sirosis and die.

Also according to many oil insiders we have hit peak production already or we will by 2010 so its only downhill from there.

 

holy crap this is one of the most informative threads i've read in here! what have i learned:

1. spray water directly into carbs for better compression
2. britney looks better on top
3. easy extra horsepower: run a few more pulleys between the crankshaft and the axle
4. peanut butter cups: health food!
5. E85= 85 cows starved per gallon produced
6. Einstein had a car that ran on nothing but the power of THREE.

i believe those were the main points but i was taking notes in shorthand. which i can't read anyway. and i thought someone hit on the solution: simply remove the earth's atmosphere...but now i hear there's friction in space so that won't work either! sheet!

keep this thread alive! my ADD brain, not being a perpetual motion organ, requires more input than it could ever process.

hopefully one of the in-house rocket scientists, as soon as they finish working the bugs out of that mason jar plasma jet, can draw up something to help ME stop wasting gas. I believe some sort of collector funnel right under the driver's seat is a good starting point.

oh and i also appreciate the frequency of misspellings. it alleviates the guilt about my non-capitalization issues.

bang on!