Posted on 10/23/2005 5:33:20 AM PDT by yankeedame
Think Pinto and they burn fast.
Ceramic engines?
What do we do with it? Enjoy the pretty red roads, buildings, grass, lungs …
But is that practical? With gasoline, most of the waste products go into the air and get recycled in the form of rain, biomass and oxygen. Can you imagine consumers having to dispose of tons of iron oxide? It doesn't sound practical to me.
IIRC, Rudolf Diesel experimented with coal dust and it can indeed operate a diesel engine. The problem arises in cylinder wear, lubrication,etc.,--the engine runs okay-just not for long--
Interesting. H, Al, and Fe are some of the most abundant elements on the planet.
But then again, oil is the 2nd most abundant liquid on the planet, and look how expensive it is.
Iron filings in the tank, hmmm... Couldn't you just suspend a reaaaallllyy powerful magnet in front of the car (you know, carrot on a stick?) and let the car take off??? ;o)
Oh that's just wunnerful... </sarcasm>
The exhaust still has to go SOMEWHERE..
I suppose it must leave a big cloud of hot, very-fine particulate dust in it's wake...
No thanks....
I had an O chem professor that loved to pour metal powders out of test tubes, the cloud of dust would spontaneously explode into flame and disappear before it hit the ground. Copper precipitate was particularly awesome.
Interesting thread. The zinc process I mentioned worked fine in the lab under closely controlled conditions --- these closely controlled conditions could not be duplicated in the pilot plant and the zinc powder got a zinc oxide coating.
Probably better injected into a boiler to make steam.
Just another stupid professor fishing for a government grant to "study" the posibility. I assure you that when the money gets low the study will be concluded with the statement "inconclusive, needs further study".
That works with a lot of powders: Flaming non-dairy creamer.
And the same principle is at work in grain-elevator explosions.
powdered ferrous oxide (common rust) plus finely divided aluminum equals thermite.
once ignited, the combustion is self-sustaining with or without the presence of atmospheric oxygen.
it is also insanely hot - thermite is used to weld large pieces of steel in ship construction... as well as a powerful incendiary weapon.
I don't see how they propose to use termite or any similar reaction to power an automobile.
Well, not now, but no one is running iron-burning engines. But iron oxide is the raw material from which iron is made, so it has value. Why dig it up when you can pay the car owner for his waste. Just like battery recycle and core exchange on car parts.
HA! KEWL!
Organic powders...Ants, love the stuff, too. :D
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