Ok, I don't know anything about physics past what I learned in grade 10 (grade 11 was drinking), but I just want to clear some basic things up that I barely remember.
1. Isn't hydrogen supposed to be the element with the most energy or something? Doesn't that mean that hydrogen should have more energy than other combinations of elements... ie fossil fuels? Would that not give water (2 hydrogen atoms) a really high energy density?
Yes (sort of)- the difficulty is that in order to get the energy "out of" water, you must invest an awful lot breaking the Hydrogen bonds. Water, with 2 H bonds, is exceptionally stable, and resists "cracking" [electolysis].
2. Energy from water isn't free energy like a perpetual motion machine. Water is just like oil... it's a thing that holds energy. Our current technology doesn't get more energy out of water than it puts in, but if it DID, you still need fuel (water)... I don't see how that breaks the laws of physics. To me that sounds like saying "running a car on petroleum breaks the laws of physics... you can just keep pumping it into the car and getting free energy out". It's likely I'm missing something here...
The Laws of Physics [more specifically Thermodynamics] state that in a closed system, you cannot get more energy out than you put in. Adding anything, whether in the form of water or gasoline is an energy input. In return, you get energy output, ie. motion, heat, combustion by-products, friction, etc. which if we were able to measure them all, would total exactly the amount of energy put into the system. What several people have been trying to say is that the energy gained by the introduction of H to the combustion process is more than offset by the energy necessary to maintain the electrolysis process.
3. Maybe people are getting confused with cold fusion... which I'm pretty sure it is totally different to 'burning water' in a car engine or fuel cell if you could.
you may be right on this one. Electrolyzing water is not "cold fusion".
4. Just because it hasn't been utilized and commercialized doesn't mean it doesn't work...?
True. Everyday there are new products brought to market, and everyday inventors think up new devices, some of which will be commercially viable. But, the marketplace is a wonderfully adaptable thing. New ideas [that work] are embraced quickly (think cellphones). Bad ideas never really catch on, and their inventors are left to talk about conspiracy theories.
Like I said, I don't know anything, but these are questions that come to my mind...
I find nothing disproving hho online just how the process works???and no solid facts about it's volatility except when applied to welding/cutting where it is an use to cut and weld unconventional materials like plastic or glass.
