Dear Editor:
I would like to answer in part Mrs. Norris' letter to the editor of the 12th of January. She brings up a very important subject in today's world. One that we all need to address in our own way. We should not wait for someone else to take the first step. We should all begin to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation of warming of our Earth. For instance, water is the best renewable energy source, and it is readily available in great abundance. The solution to all of our energy needs world-wide is water. With water we can split the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen by using electrolysis, and also by a few other methods, one which will be discussed later.
Hydrogen is the cleanest burning fuel available and it will not pollute the atmosphere when it is burned. And, when it is burned, it recombines with oxygen to form several molecules. One being H20, another being OH, or hydroxide and a few others. The OH molecule will eventually recombine with another atom of hydrogen, due to the fact that it will not be a stable molecule until it does. So, you see, water is a renewable energy source.
The great benefit of water is that all of the infrastructure is already in place to put it to use. We are already piping this energy source straight into our home, our place of business, our ranch or our farm. You can also truck it in, since only a small amount of water will make a great deal of both gases, hydrogen and oxygen. For instance, 1 gram of hydrogen in a solution of water will result in a volume of 22.42 liters or 5.9 gallons by volume of hydrogen gas.
The problem we all face from challenging the establishment to produce the necessary technology to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen, is that the establishment will claim it will do great harm to our economy. Since it will put oil, natural gas, and other sources of energy out of business, eventually.
However, the benefits it will bring to our economy are enormous, not to mention the elimination of global heating and the atmospheric pollution crisis. One of the greatest benefits for using water is energy independence for you the individual consumer, not just national energy independence, which we pretty much have right now. In addition to clean air and water, we will have more money in our pockets, since water is very cheap and renewable as well. And, least we forget, all of the power lines that crisscross our nation can be eliminated eventually, also.
Yet, another way to use the hydrogen and oxygen obtained from water, is by creating a battery utilizing the oxygen and hydrogen as battery terminals. When a molecule of water is split, the positively charged hydrogen atoms and the negatively charged oxygen atoms can be used to create a battery that can power an electric motor, which has already been done in Japan by Genepax. Genepax has built a working model of a small car that get 80 km per liter of water utilizing said battery.
I have a small model car that uses a water fuel cell to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which is then utilized as a battery with enough current to power a small electric motor to drive the model car. These kits are available online if you would like to see one in actual work. They are very unique models and prove that water can be used as a fuel source.
Inventor Stanley Meyer demonstrated a water fuel cell to the U.S. Patent Office and received U.S. Patent No. 4,936,961. The patent explains that the fuel cell is a capacitor with fresh water as the dielectric although salt water will work just as well. A pulsating high voltage is applied to the capacitor plates. The high voltage polarizes the water molecule with the hydrogen atoms being attracted to the negative plate and the oxygen atoms attracted to the positive plate. An increasing high-voltage pulse is applied to the plates in a stair-step fashion until the high-voltage overcomes the bonding force of the water molecule and it is literally torn apart. The hydrogen gas is then collected in a separate container (Meyers, 1987).
So, you see, there is hope for the future and all the younger generation has to do is get to work and stop your complaining. With all due respect.
Sincerely,
Wayne Hill