Posted on 10/23/2005 5:33:20 AM PDT by yankeedame
New car to run on iron filings
The Daily Telegraph
October 21, 2005
THE green car of the future could run on a tankful of iron filings, it was claimed yesterday.
US scientist Dave Beach believes such a car would produce almost no pollution and be more fuel-efficient. Given a high enough temperature, powdered iron ignite, releasing energy. Rockets already use metal power. Aluminium is sprinkled into the space shuttle's solid rockets to give them an extra boost.
But to kick off combustion in most metals requires temperatures of at least 2000C, which would melt the average engine.
Dr Beach suspected the answer was to create very fine metal grains measuring millionths of a millimetre. Heating them to 250C could make them burn and unlike larger particles they did not vaporise or melt.
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From http://www.manoramaonline.com/
10/23/05:
Washington: Future cars could be run with a modified engine and a tank full of metal and could travel three times as far as the equivalent petrol powered vehicle, visualises a US researcher.
Dave Beach, a scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, says chunks of metal such as iron, aluminium or boron could be turned into powder and they will become highly reactive at high temperature, reports New Scientist.
Ignite it, and it releases copious quantities of energy, he was quoted as saying in the report.
Rockets already use metal power. Aluminium is sprinkled into the space shuttle's solid rockets to give them an extra boost, says another report in NEWS.com.au.
Oh, great. More rusty junkers sitting around the yard.
Right. Metal ought to be cheaper than petroleum.
No kidding. I'm going to sit around today and think of the best way to heat something to 250C . . . hmmmm . . . . not quite sure yet . . .
The metal powder would be added to what? I cant wait for my foot thick concrete engine block.
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My old Datsun tried this by itself and it didn't end well....
LQ
ahh...I just saw this in Batman Begins.
Perfect "green" solution.
---yeah--the thermite reaction comes to the internal combustion engine--the fuel or injector pump (or maybe he's thinking in terms of a carburetor)would have to be a doozie, too---
I reheat pizza at 400 degrees, maybe reheated pizza would be better.
Probably use waste heat from the burning fuel once it's started. Iron is one of the primary constituents of the earth, seems a little far fetched on the surface, but it is interesting.
I think Ludwig von Drake or some other Disney character invented a car that would run on seawater...........but it took several thousand gallons per mile!
Whoops,guess it was Gyro Gearloose.
Sonuva Beach...
exactly, this is very interesting on a couple of fronts. first we have a single researcher finding something possible?????? second, a human sooner or later will indeed find a unapplied energy source for out benefit. it will come, sooner that later. btw, metals do indeed burn at high temps, and are used in all kinds of incendiary devices. how about the pollution angle? some metals like magnesium release toxic gases when burned or heated to high. oh well, good luck to all who endeavor to find that new magic fire.
Thought you were supposed to reduce weight to improve gas mileage. Now we are adding iron to the gas tank?
since recieving energy from metal for running a car would be totally different than using gasline, weight might not be such an issue here. imo, that heat would be used to generate electricity sorta like a nuke reactor. with no engine as we know it and no or few batteries, this thing could weigh plenty and still be withing the parameters of functionality.
http://www.tomvalentine.com/html/karrick2.html
Given a high enough temperature, powdered iron ignite, releasing energy.>>>>>>>>>>>
When someone is billed as a staff writer I presume that means a professional writer. When they write non-sentences like the one above I quickly lose interest. I could do better than that when I was in grade school.
I'm assuming the waste product would be iron oxide. What do you do with it?
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