Can we run hydrogen in our pushrod V8s?

 

Assuming you're talking about gasoline powered V8's I'll move this to the "other" alternate fuel forum.

 

I had seen something about doing so once, BMW was working on it, but haven't heard anything about it since seeing it that once.

 

Theoretically yes, if you had the induction system for it you would be able to run hydrogen just fine.

 

It would work but it is difficult to store Hydrogen in volume and actually propane is a better motor fuel emissions wise and easy to store and very high octane too. You could build a propane only motor that has 12 or 13 to one CR and have it make some pretty impressive power too. While it takes a heavy tank to hold propane (lighter than hydrogen though) the fuel only weight 4 lbs a gallon vs about 6.5 for gas and 8.0 for alchol and propane has about 25% more energy than alchol per gallon and by the pound it has more energy than gas and nearly 3 times the heat energy content of alchol. This heat energy is what drive a engine.

 

We already do run our cars on hydrogen. There is more hydrogen in a tank of gasoline than in a similar sized tank of hydrogen. I don't see why you couldn't just buy industrial hydrogen from a gas supply company, rig up a mixer and run your car on it. Can anyone do a cost analysis on this idea?

 

By weight, there is far more carbon in the fuel than hydrogen.

 

Sure, but there's also more energy per unit of weight in fuel than hydrogen. So what?

 

In a liquid state which is difficult and expensive to achieve and maintain. Also it takes about $15 dollars of electricty at today industry rates to make enough hydrogen to make 4 gallons of liquid but that does not include the cost of compressing and cooling it to a liquid state and when you factor this in it can cost over $15/gal to make, store, distribute and sell liquid hydrogen with current technology. It is just not viable at this time.

 

No argument from me. I think fuel (gasoline) is a much better energy source than hydrogen. That's why we use it. Not sure what you were getting at with your carbon statement.

 

Carbon is a form of energy. That what I am getting at.

 

Carbon is not a form of energy. Carbon is an element on the periodic table.

Hydrocarbons contain energy that can be released. In the presence of oxygen, the hydrocarbon breaks apart, releases heat, and the hydrogen and carbon combine with the oxygen.

So, very simplified, the hydrocarbon (C8H18 for example) combines with the oxygen (O2), gives off heat, and forms CO2 and H2O (also known as carbon dioxide and water). The energy is contained in the molecular bonds, that when broken, release heat.

Of course, all heat is, is the vibration rate of the molecules. So really all that's happening is they vibrate faster after they react. When they vibrate faster, they take up more space, pressure goes up, and the piston goes down. Simple really.

 

Yes, very simple. And simply put, breaking a H-C chain releases more engergy than breaking an H-H bond.

 

Well, aside from the fact that everything that has mass has energy (that old E=MC^2 thing), I don't know what you mean.

Atoms bonded to other atoms, (forming a molecule) do contain energy, and breaking those bonds can release energy, but it's not the atoms themselves that are giving the energy off.

All in all, I still don't know what you are saying.

 

I think that alcohol is the best non fossil fuel.