Kyle R. Mcallister
Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:39:02 -0800
To: <vortex-L@eskimo.com> Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 1:15 PM Subject: Re: [Vo]: Scam or no?
5 gallons = 19 liters; 19 kg. The heat of vaporization of water is 540 cal/g, so they are claiming at least 42 MJ/min energy production. That is the least amount; actually there would be much more, if a substantial fraction of the water is converted to free H2 and O2. Let's say it is 84 MJ/min. That's equivalent to 2 kg of gasoline a minute, or 1.4 MW. The biggest racing car engines are about 200 kW. 1.4 MW is enough for large railroad locomotive or WWII era fighter aircraft. If you put that much energy into something the size of an automobile engine, it would melt.
Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454ci big block, 490hp = 365,540 watts. People routinely put blowers and such on these motors, port and polish the heads, etc., 1khp is not unreasonable. Then you are up to 0.75 megawatt. Of course, it gets hot, so you have to have a bloody good cooling system. A time honored trick that helps a lot is to remove the thermostat and let the coolant free-flow. Add an extra belt-driven or electric powered coolant pump, an oversized radiator, and you're good to go. Gives off so much CO2 that polar bears spontaneously combust from the added warming. ;)
Point is, 200kW is by no means the biggest engine used for racing or otherwise in automobiles. Is it the biggest you'll probably ever NEED? Probably, and then some.
As far as the claims of the whatsit racing company, I have a hard time believing it. 5 gallons of water per minute? Even if you could do this, to burn that much hydrogen in an engine per minute would be insane. If the cylinder head is aluminum, like most these days....Bad Juju.
--Kyle, Vo's evil mechanic