Slashdot Mirror


Can Urine Rescue Hydrogen-Powered Cars?

thecarchik writes with this interesting excerpt: "It takes a lot of energy to split hydrogen out from the other atoms to which it binds, either in natural gas or water. Which means energy analysts are skeptical about the overall energy balance of cars fueled by hydrogen. Ohio University researcher Geraldine Botte has come up with a nickel-based electrode to oxidize (NH2)2CO, otherwise known as urea, the major component of animal urine. Because urea's four hydrogen atoms are less tightly bound to nitrogen than the hydrogen bound to oxygen in water molecules, it takes less energy to break them apart."

35 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. Urea? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    first piss!

    1. Re:Urea? by mabersold · · Score: 2, Funny

      Were you hoping to get the "number one" post?

  2. Hmm... by XPeter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sperm and now urine? I'll take a guess and say the next article will be about crap.

    --
    "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
    1. Re:Hmm... by hansraj · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'll take a guess and say the next article will be about crap.

      I suppose that will be a shitty article.

    2. Re:Hmm... by amp001 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'll take a guess and say the next article will be about crap.

      I suppose that will be a shitty article.

      Now, now -- there's no need to get pissy about it.

  3. Take that you punk kids! by greatica · · Score: 4, Funny

    Try pissing in my gas tank now!

  4. Humm, if Bio Diesel Cars smell like French Fries by Virtucon · · Score: 5, Funny

    The cars powered by this will smell like Bourbon Street.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
  5. Way Cool by flaming+error · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cool. We burn our pee in the car, collect pure water from the tailpipe, drink the water and pee again.

    Perpetual urination FTW.

    1. Re:Way Cool by cbiltcliffe · · Score: 2, Funny

      So will we now refer to this loss of efficiency as "piss off"?

      --
      "City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
  6. Re:Oh sure! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Don't worry. I'm sure you still can hang around the rest areas and make some money.

  7. The only problem I see is that... by bryan_is_a_kfo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Peeing in my neighbors gas tank will no longer have the desired effect.

  8. Re:New waste recycle plants? by Electrawn · · Score: 4, Funny

    Urea is a common component in a lot of industrial applications, notably cosmetics, soap and animal feed. No need to really source it from the sewer, industrial vats make this stuff every day.

    Telling women what exactly "Urea" is in the ingredients of their makeup case is great fun...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urea

  9. urinine by goombah99 · · Score: 4, Funny

    the fuel will be called urinine, because after a lot of beer, I'm way way past urin8

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:urinine by Tanktalus · · Score: 4, Funny

      My urine goes to 11.

    2. Re:urinine by sumdumass · · Score: 5, Funny

      You guys should get together and form your own country. You can call it the Uri-nation.

    3. Re:urinine by vk2 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Why not just fly out and build a colony on Uranus?

      --
      No Sig for you.!
    4. Re:urinine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Why not just fly out and build a colony on Uranus?

      These urine jokes are pissing me off. I'm going to go play my Nintendo Wii...

    5. Re:urinine by commodoresloat · · Score: 3, Funny

      Why not just fly out and build a colony on Uranus?

      It doesn't take a whiz to see why that's a piss-poor idea. Who leaked this idea to the press anyway? They're just trying to make a splash.

    6. Re:urinine by fractoid · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'll run mine on "bee pee" fuel.

      --
      Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
  10. Re:Just 0.037 Volts... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    What they didn't tell you is that it takes about 33 times longer. They're not sure why, though.

  11. Re:Can Urine Rescue Hydrogen-Powered Cars? by jslarve · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not to mention that the cheesing community will be outraged.

  12. Re:New waste recycle plants? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Telling women what exactly "Urea" is in the ingredients of their makeup case is great fun...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urea

    I get the impression you don't get out much...;)

  13. Re:Just 0.037 Volts... by cbiltcliffe · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'd have to piss somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 gallons a day to have enough fuel just to handle my daily commute.

    So that just gives you an(other) excuse to get very drunk at work. :)

    --
    "City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
  14. It burns when I pee by bperkins · · Score: 4, Funny

    but in this case it's a good thing.

  15. Re:The problem.... by value_added · · Score: 2, Funny

    Garrison Keillor once wrote

    It is more worthy in the eyes of God if a writer makes three pages sharp and funny about the lives of geese than to make three hundred fat and flabby about God or the American people.

    I'm not entirely certain you've succeeded in changing my opinion of hydrogen, but you've definitely made a change in my thinking.

    Now if I could only find my car keys ...

  16. Re:The problem.... by evanbd · · Score: 4, Funny

    Every time I see people complaining about hydrogen storage, I find myself wondering what's so hard about it. You can store hydrogen fairly densely and easily by just attaching it to carbon atoms in a roughly 2:1 ratio. What's more, we already have the infrastructure in place to transport and use hydrogen that's been stored in this manner. And, even better, no high pressures, low temperatures, or special materials are required!

  17. drinking and driving takes on a whole new meaning by macbeth66 · · Score: 2, Funny

    If it works, it would be a very green... er... yellow solution.

  18. Re:The problem.... by jameskojiro · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, but that relys too much on using dangerously toxic carbon ....
    .
    I've heard that a few grams of carbon injected into a polar bear at 100m/s can kill it instantly.
    .
    Way to dangerous to use in cars and vehicles.

    --
    Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
  19. Surely... by w0mprat · · Score: 2, Funny

    they are just taking the piss out of us.

    --
    After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
  20. Re:It worked in Rome by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 3, Funny

    I like the idea. Anything that involves aiming a stream of urine towards our national leaders is fine by me.

    --
    Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
  21. Re:Can Urine Rescue Hydrogen-Powered Cars? by SEWilco · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bartender, I need two gallons of beer for the road!

  22. Re:The problem.... by bertoelcon · · Score: 1, Funny

    I've heard that a few grams of carbon injected into a polar bear at 100m/s can kill it instantly. . Way to dangerous to use in cars and vehicles.

    A few grams of lead can be injected into most animals with the same effect, it just depends on your aim.

    --
    Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
  23. Whole new meaning... by kdogg73 · · Score: 0, Funny

    ...to pissing on a spark plug. It may now do good.

    --
    Let's face it, most of us are scoffers. But moments before zero hour, it does not pay to take chances.
  24. Re:The problem.... by Ihmhi · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now if I could only find my car keys ...

    Have you tried Google? They're doing some really amazing stuff with their engine lately.

  25. Re:Just 0.037 Volts... by catmistake · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't care how much less it is... There is simply not enough urea made in the entire country on a daily bases to produce enough H2 for fuel for even a small city.

    I disagree. There is easily 40 gallons of urine produced daily for each person on the continent. You're only taking into account human produced urea... but any urea would do. There's a lot of horses and cows in this country, they make it too... and if we could tap into the urea produced by rats... but this is assuming cows, horses and rats don't need it for their own cars.