Scientists Burn Saltwater

[Squid]

That's right folks, apparently it has been discovered how to weaken the chemical bonds in water to allow the hydrogen to escape and effectively make salt water burn.  If it can provide enough power and can be harnessed, it could possibly be the greatest alternative fuel ever.  Salt water is pretty abundant.

However, I bet you won't see this story on CNN, FoxNews or YahooNews or any other news source's front page...if anywhere on their site.

Here's the news story over at LiveScience:

http://www.livescience.com/environment/070911_ap_salt_water.html

[Steve Reason]

Sweet. I hope it turns out to be viable. Of course it would be years before such a thing could be put to practical use; but if it's doable, it would turn the world on it's head. I can't imagine any environmental reason why it would be a problem.

I just hope they don't set the oceans on fire in the meantime!  

Sorry, I just had to say that.  :wink:

[Tom62]

Wow, that is just as cool as cold fusion . Bad thing though is that in 2020 the salt water companies will charge their european customers $12 per gallon to fillup their cars.  :cry:

[SteveS]

This is shockingly cool!  I would love to see one of the demonstrations - too bad that sort of thing isn't usually open to the public.

Which made me think: we have "consumer electronics shows", "car shows", "boat shows", "R/V shows", etc. all the time.  Its really too bad they don't occasionally have "research science shows" - just a bunch of scientists demonstrating/talking about their research and findings - I would be more then willing to pay good money to attend, maybe even offer reasonable donations to projects that appeal to me, whatever.  Researches could use it as a direct appeal to the public for funding - cut the G-men out of the loop and go direct!  I think it would be really great.

I used to live within a few miles of Argonne national lab, and they were going to put on an Open House for the first time ever.  I was all geared up to attend, but the Open House was for either late Sept. or early Oct. 2001 (can't remember for sure), and they called it off as a direct result of the terrorist attack on 9/11.  This is just one more grievance (albeit a minor one in light of the others) in a very, very long list that I have against the terrorists.

[SteveS]

For anyone that is interested, here is a link to a news story with a video of the salt-water burning:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/11/can- ... d-as-fuel/

There must be something important about the salt, right, because Hydrogen and Oxygen burn back into water: so, we can't possible break water apart and then put it back together for a net energy increase?

[McQ]

Well, now we can fight over and rape the oceans to get our power. Sweet!

[donkeyhoty]

whatever, Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz did this shit like 10 years ago.

[MysticalChicken]

I saw that on Olbermann.  Pretty cool stuff.

[FacE]

I'm sorry to tell you this but the amount of energy that is needed to generate the radiation is greater than the amount of energy that you get from burning the water. It is just a cool way to convert energy to another form.

(Yes, this is my first post on this forum)

[Girl Dancing In Orbit]

Does anyone knows if this experiment have been reviewed by peers ? Have it been replicated by another group ?