There is a balloon the shape and size of a beach ball. A string keeps it tethered to the ground. Someone in a white lab coat stands about eight feet away with a rod about as long with a small flame on the end. They put on a protective headset and put the flame in contact with the floating balloon. Not even a second later the balloon violently explodes in a large fireball and a loud bang. All that remains of the balloon is the string that held it down and invisible molecules of water vapor now floating through the room. With the continuing buzz on the issue of global warming and the general rise of cost of fossil fuels alternatives have been explored. One of these is hydrogen power in the form of the hydrogen fuel cell. This source of power …show more content…
In order to understand the why behind the need to change from fossil fuels to hydrogen power, it is necessary to understand what that power is and how it works. Hydrogen is the most abundant and simplest element on earth. It is most commonly found as part of water. In its pure gaseous form it is extremely light, but when ignited in this state releases a large amount of energy in an explosion. In this violent reaction the hydrogen combines with free oxygen molecules in the atmosphere and creates water vapor. This is similar to the way gasoline is combined with air and ignited in an internal combustion engine in the cars used today and like with gasoline, the combustion of hydrogen has risks. In addition to the risk, some of the energy released in the reaction is lost in the form of sound and heat. As an alternative to burning, these same gases can be combined with the use of catalysts to extract the free electrons produced as liquid water is formed(Popovici and Hoble Dorel). Using cables connected to a fuel cell such as this, those electrons go through a circuit, generating electricity. This is more efficient than combustion because less energy is wasted in the form of sound and heat. Going further, greater efficiency for this reaction can be had the lower the temperature it is allowed to take place at, with 83% power at 25◦C(77◦ F)(Popovici and Hoble Dorel). As fuel cells are created with better heat management and
Solar energy can be turned into electricity through solar cells 15%=cheap, 40% efficiency=expensive. Caloric theory of heat=caloric fluid flows from hot object to cold. Heat engine=
This journal article emphasizes the importance of the environment and the potential for public health complications due to air pollution. The public health problems are most apparent in industrialized and developing countries where motor vehicle emissions is a significant contributor to poor air quality in urban areas. In this article, hydrogen is explored as a technological solution to this environmental problem. Hydrogen plays a significant role in the quest for a low-emission, environment-considerate, cleaner and more supportable vitality framework. Hydrogen has exceptionally unique properties as a transportation fuel, including a fast smoldering speed, a high successful octane number, and no poisonous quality or ozone-shaping potential. It has much more extensive points of confinement of combustibility in the air than methane and
First, the article claims that the fuel cell engines utilize easily available , renewable resources. However, the professor refutes that by saying that the resources are not easily available. Although, hydrogen is available in water, but it's not usable. She said it must be in apurified liquid state and it's highly artificial, so the process of produce and stor the liquid hydrogen is not easy because
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (fcvs) have not been around for long, but over the past decade that have developed into a new potential successor of the combustion engine. Fcvs function the same as an electric cars but the difference is the hydrogen fuel cell stack. Hydrogen fuel stacks are just multiple layers of fuel cells stacked up and when hydrogen is pumped in to mix with oxygen a reaction takes place. From this reaction electricity and water vapor is created. The electricity carries on and powers the electric motor(s) in the car. The vapor is released from the exhaust and since only water vapor is released, no harm is done to the environment.
Honda has already produced a hydrogen fuel cell concept car they claim is “overall 64% energy efficient”. To put this into perspective in the average gasoline combustion engine “only about 20 percent of the thermal-energy content of the gasoline is converted into mechanical work”, making it 20% energy efficient [5]. This new line of cars could bring about jobs in the automotive industry and all industries that branch from it. As of right now the commercial market for hydrogen gas produced from the use of fossil fuels is at about $100 billion. A majority of this hydrogen goes into producing fertilizers and petrochemicals [1]. All it would take is an inexpensive source of green hydrogen, such as the one recently discovered, to completely change this industry.Overall hydrogen has the ability to bring about jobs and continued advancements in every market and industry touched by it. This could be just about every industry when considering how important transportation and shipping are to the economy; hydrogen would give them an inexpensive fuel for transport. Hydrogen fuel could do this all the while solving our most important problem of finding a renewable energy source.
Federal Government and oil companies put forward hydrogen fuel cells as a better alternative to gas and battery electric cars. In contrast, interviews with two hydrogen experts gave details why fuel cell vehicles are not likely to be available for another 15-20 years if ever, whereas battery electric technology is available now, has been rapidly improving since the mid 1990s and is cost effective.
In these following paragraphs, the paragraphs will be about about balloons. There are three different types of balloons such as gas balloons, hot-air balloons, and sport balloons. According to Russell Lee, gas balloons can be filled with gases such as hydrogen, helium, natural gas, or any other gases that are lighter than air. Hydrogen is the
The Hydrogen Fuel Cell could revolutionize the world. This ingenious technology, which creates electricity from the chemical reactions of hydrogen and oxygen has, in its 150-year history, passed many of the critical tests along the path from invention to innovation. Recent developments in fuel cell technology and concurrent developments within the energy and automotive industries have brought the world to brink of the fuel cell age and the hydrogen economy.
The purpose of this experiment is to explore how temperature affects the expansion and contraction of gases using latex balloons. Therefore the research question is: what is the effect of temperature on the expansion and contraction of balloons? This would demonstrate how a balloon is able to expand and contract as the force and frequency of the
It derives energy from spinning water turbines. Hydroelectric power is a low-cost, renewable, air pollution-free energy source. Unfortunately there is not much room for this source left in the US and building large dams, flooding valuable river valleys, and eliminating free-flowing rivers are the negative externalities of this alternative. Electrolysis of water could be used to convert biomass (plants or plant-based materials) into methane or electricity to generate hydrogen gas. Current technology with little improvement could lead to these fuels being used more abundantly. Moreover, the storage, use, and transportation of these fuels would be
However, some pundits are concerned that adopting hydrogen energy as the sole strategy for the issues facing the automobile’s future is problematic because of the lengthy time frame in which they are projected to become ubiquitous. Furthermore, the present infrastructure for the distribution of hydrogen fuel sources or the production of hydrogen fuel cells is not only insufficient, but slow to develop. As such, fossil fuels are presently the main source for hydrogen production, which means that hydrogen vehicles do not successfully decouple the automobile from a fossil fuel economy. This is also widely inefficient because it will generate four times the carbon dioxide emissions generated by gasoline efficient automobiles. Furthermore, compressing hydrogen for the purposes of
Another possible source of energy, though not proven, is hydrogen power. Hydrogen can produce a great amount of energy with almost no pollution. Fuel cells are able to combine hydrogen with oxygen, producing energy which possibly could be used to power cars, buildings, and other devices. Hydrogen fuel cells are a promising technology for the years to come.
* Who are the main Stakeholders of beverage companies such as Coca cola and nestle in this case? How would you prioritize their stake and how legitimate are the different stakes?
Recent years have shown an increasingly large need for a practical renewable energy source for such reasons as diminishing fossil fuels and increases in greenhouse gasses. Hydrogen appears to be a way out of this gasoline-dug hole, or at least, a way out in the future. Hydrogen fuel cell cars are being engineered as we speak as the technologies to refuel them cleanly are being proposed. Unfortunately, most of the technologies associated with hydrogen are still in the prototype/pre-production stages and require better enhancements before becoming mainstream. This paper assesses the practicality of hydrogen power in cars both now and in the future while explicating the actual process of how a
Water is a human right, not a commodity. It is the essence of life, sustaining every living being on the planet. Without it we would have no plants, no animals, no people. However, while water consumption doubles every twenty years our water sources are being depleted, polluted and exploited by multinational corporations. Water privatization has been promoted by corporations and international lending institutions as the solution to the global water crises but the only one’s who benefit from water privatization are investors and international banks. The essential dilemma of privatization is that the profit interests of private water utilities ultimately jeopardizes the safeguarding of the human right to water. Access to clean, sufficient