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New Chemical Process Could Make Ammonia a Practical Car Fuel
overThruster (58843) writes A phys.org article says UK researchers have made a breakthrough that could make ammonia a practical source of hydrogen for fueling cars. From the article: "Many catalysts can effectively crack ammonia to release the hydrogen, but the best ones are very expensive precious metals. This new method is different and involves two simultaneous chemical processes rather than using a catalyst, and can achieve the same result at a fraction of the cost. ... Professor Bill David, who led the STFC research team at the ISIS Neutron Source, said 'Our approach is as effective as the best current catalysts but the active material, sodium amide, costs pennies to produce. We can produce hydrogen from ammonia "on demand" effectively and affordably.'"
The full paper. The researchers claim that a two-liter reaction chamber could produce enough hydrogen to power a typical sedan.
Actually, the furthest along are gasoline engines. 100% of all research funds should go to increasing fuel efficiency.
Every car gets 0 miles to the gallon unnecessarily stopped at a light.
I'm wondering, instead of using red/green switches at intersections, maybe we can have the cars drive through diffraction plates set up around the intersection. Then the wavefunction of you and car can spread out into the intersection via diffraction and arrive randomly into one of several quantum states (outbound lanes) which head toward your destination. If we made cars and their drivers out of bosons instead of fermions, it might work. Only one fermion can occupy any given quantum state. So with fermionic cars, there's always a small probability of quantum entanglement within the intersection between you and some other guy trying to make a left.
As long as all drivers keep their eyes closed.
How about reducing weight that we all have to drag around with us
So you're suggesting a large portion of the American population get off their fat asses and lose weight so they can increase their vehicles fuel economy?
You might as well ask a starving lion to put down that leg of zebra it's gnawing on.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
You have to stop? Gatorade bottles grant the full cycle of hydration (just don't mix up the fresh and used.)
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
If your car divides by zero, it's probably a Fiat.
But how do you tell the difference between them?
Very efficiency. No gas. Much MPG.
One word: robots. They could pick up your entire car and hurl it across several city blocks to hit a bug on the sidewalk a fraction of a second later if there was a reason to build such a thing.
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.