View Single Post
Old 07-11-2014, 05:14 PM   #40 (permalink)
backpacker3
Master EcoModder
 
backpacker3's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Michigan
Posts: 384

Homer - '02 Pontiac Sunfire SE
Team Pontiac
90 day: 30.05 mpg (US)
Thanks: 13
Thanked 53 Times in 50 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf View Post
I'm sorry, but basic science - that is, conservation of energy - strongly suggests that it won't work. I mean you have a device which uses electricity to dissociate water into H2 and O2, then you feed that into the engine and are somehow supposed to get back more energy than it took to dissociate them in the first place?
I only meant that because it is a combustible gas the idea of using it as fuel for an internal combustion engine is a feasible idea. Not that the exact product that was linked to in this thread had any science behind it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by some_other_dave View Post
That, in particular, is absolutely a loss in efficiency. You simply cannot produce enough hydrogen gas to substitute for any meaningful amount of fuel using on-board electrolysis. And if you try to even produce nearly enough, you will be loading the electrical system enough that your alternator will take more power and fuel to run than you would be creating.

Nobody even slightly credible will argue that point. (If they want to, they will have to re-write the laws of thermodynamics to do it.)
I think you may have misunderstood me. I was actually saying using the HHO as a gasoline substitute was likely to decrease efficiency.
__________________
Aiming for 50 MPG from an automatic.
See how I'm doing here, My Build Thread

  Reply With Quote