At least it was a metric unit and he didn't refer to psi. Howard Ressel Project Design Engineer, Region 4 (585) 272-3372
>>> "Martin Vlietstra" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 5/10/2008 5:11 AM >>> Hi Ezra, In the SI Manual, the "bar" has the status of "Other non-SI units currently accepted for use with the International System". It has the practical attraction that standard atmospheric pressure is approximately one bar and also that it can be converted to pascals very quickly when the need arises, so from a safety point of view it is a useful measurement. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 09 May 2008 22:46 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:40877] Still using the "bar" in Europe Saw this from the University of the Basque Country in Spain: Methanol as an alternative Most current research is focused on hydrogen cells the biggest advantage of which is that they do not generate contaminant gases, except water vapour as the only waste product. However, hydrogen is very expensive, both in producing it and in distributing it using traditional overland transport methods. Moreover, its energy density is less than that of methanol, meaning that, in order to obtain the same energy from a similar amount of fuel, the hydrogen has to be kept and stored under conditions of very high pressure (more than 800 bars). This is why hydrogen is dangerous, and even more so when stored in vehicles travelling at high speed - a small crack in the storage container could have fatal consequences. These and other reasons mean that methanol (a type of alcohol derived from methane gas) is a good option for charging fuel cells. ====== I'm surprised scientific work in Europe is still being done using the "bar" instead of the "pascal". Ezra
