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Creating Hydrogen With (Very) Hot Water

Posted by timothy on from the nukes-get-you-in-hot-water-anyhow dept.

carbonman writes "NYTimes is reporting that a public-private research team will announce on Monday that they have discovered a new technique to produce pure hydrogen that is far more efficient than conventional methods. The advance could be a significant development in attempts to realize the dream of the hydrogen economy in taking gasoline-powered vehicles off the road, and without releasing carbon dioxide emissions that are linked to climate change. It does, however, require the use of advanced high-temperature nuclear reactors, none of which have been built on a production scale before." swiftstream adds a link to the same story at the no-reg Indianapolis Star, and summarizes the method as "electrolysis of very, very hot water."

15 of 542 comments (clear)

  1. Very Very hot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't they mean steam?

  2. Very, very hot water? by FiReaNGeL · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is it just me or water can't be very very hot? At about 100 degrees Celcius, it vaporize... are they doing electrolysis on hot vapor? If so, can their tech be called Vaporware? :)

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    1. Re:Very, very hot water? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Since no one else has pointed it out yet, I'll just mention that it's possible if it's at a different pressure

    2. Re:Very, very hot water? by sketerpot · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm pretty sure you mean "at standard pressure". It's very difficult to get water to be at 100 degrees Celcius and at standard temperature simultaneously. :-)

    3. Re:Very, very hot water? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, as we all know, deuterium is somewhere down there in the middle of the periodic table, it must be one of those weird elements you don't hear about much. What was its elemental symbol again? Du?

      p.s. Don't drink your tap water! Check the news, it's been contaminated with dihydrogen monoxide, which at sufficiently large quantities can prevent breathing!

  3. If they can scale it down, this tech could be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...perfect for espresso machines.

  4. Smartass by Oriumpor · · Score: 5, Funny
    If, he thought to himself, such amachine is a virtual impossibility, then it must logically be a finite improbability. So all I have to do in order to make one, is to work out exactly how improbable it is, feed that figure into the finite improbability generator, give it a fresh cup of really hot tea ... and turn it on!
  5. Hot? by DxM02r · · Score: 4, Funny

    So...how long before there's a lawsuit resulting from a scalding burn while at the drive-thru fill up?

  6. I want my Mr. Fusion! by IO+ERROR · · Score: 4, Funny

    Once you've got the nuclear reactor in your car, why bother with all this hydrogen business? You've got all the energy you need from the reactor itself.

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    1. Re:I want my Mr. Fusion! by InfiniteWisdom · · Score: 4, Funny

      you want a car the size of a small office block
      You mean like a Hummer?

  7. Public-private research team? by n0tv3ry3lite · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does that mean they will be showing their privates in public? Are there any females on this public-private team? If so, then I am there for the 'unveiling'!

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  8. Re:Lots of upside, but there is a potential downsi by (H)elix1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    If this is released into the environment, then we're dealing with another greenhouse gas (water vapor).

    It is far worse than one would imagine. You can read more about the dangers here about the byproduct of hydrogen combustion. Truly sobering....were they to put these in automobiles, they would generate a key component of acid rain.

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    +++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
  9. Re:Reality Check pls. by ArsSineArtificio · · Score: 4, Funny

    I heard they designed a car engine which could run off of silly conspiracy theories, but the Boy Scouts and Knights Templars suppressed it.

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  10. Re: Microwave heating by null-sRc · · Score: 3, Funny

    when you spoon that instant coffee in, it explodes

    instant explosion upon spooning eh?

    sounds like most guys on slashdot.

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    -judging another only defines yourself
  11. Re:I wish I could start a nation at sea by dbIII · · Score: 3, Funny
    I myself wish I had enough money to buy a ship and put a nuclear reactor on it out in international waters and sell safe and simple hydrogen back to the mainland ... I wish I could start a nation at sea.
    You don't want a ship, you want a yellow submarine.

    Speaking as someone who has used hydrogen as a furnace atmosphere, if I had considered it as both safe and simple I suspect I would not be around to write this. I suppose if nuclear power at sea is safe and simple then everything else on earth must be even more so.