Hydrogen Fuel
Hydrogen Fuel
Why are we as Americans so afraid to change? Even if it is a change for the better? The world has been using oil coal and other petroleum products to power just about everything that moves for the last 150 years. Yet most cars in the United States only get 10-20 miles a gallon and even the "good" ones can get only a petty 20-50 miles a gallon. So why do we put up with the inefficiency when there are far better alternatives out there?
Hydrogen, the first element of the periodic table, is composed of one proton and one electron. More than 90% of the universe is made up of this simple element. More than 30% of the mass of the sun is atomic hydrogen. It is the third most abundant element in the earth's surface, and is found mostly in water. Normally, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and nonpoisonous gas composed of diatomic molecules (H2).
In a perfect world when cars burn gasoline, they would burn it perfectly and create nothing but carbon dioxide and water in their exhaust. Unfortunately and realistically the internal combustion engine is far from perfect. In the process of burning gasoline, it also produces: Carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas, Nitrogen oxides, the main source of smog, unburned hydrocarbons, one of the main causes of ozone depletion. Catalytic converters eliminate much of this pollution, but they aren't perfect either. Air pollution from cars is a real problem in today’s world. It’s time for a change.
Scientists predict that the world's oil reserves will not last for long and we need to find out alternative forms of fuel for our ever growing fuel needs. In addition, the quantum of pollution that occurs by burning fossil fuels is an ever growing threat to the already fragile ecosystems of the world. It is in this scenario that the world has turned its attention to non-conventional fuels that are cheap, non-polluting and easily producible. While a variety of fuels have been considered as non-conventional alternate fuels, the potential of hydrogen as a fuel of the future is promising.
For total usage, it is believed that the United States, above all other nations, consumes the most fuel, reaching twelve million barrels a day. The amazing part of this statistic is that sixty six percent of this fuel, that is eight million barrels...