[mtbopfuyn]

Oh, great. More rusty junkers sitting around the yard.

[satchmodog9]

The metal powder would be added to what? I cant wait for my foot thick concrete engine block.

[AntiGuv]

FutureTechPing!

An emergent technologies list covering biomedical research, fusion power, nanotech, AI robotics, and other related fields. FReepmail to join or drop.

[LizardQueen]

My old Datsun tried this by itself and it didn't end well....

LQ

[evad]

.. solid rockets to give them an extra boost, says another report in NEWS.com.au.

ahh...I just saw this in Batman Begins.

Perfect "green" solution.

[wildehunt]

Sonuva Beach...

[SouthTexas]

Thought you were supposed to reduce weight to improve gas mileage. Now we are adding iron to the gas tank?

[patriot_wes]

10 trillion barrels of oil sitting nearly free for the taking in UT, CO, WY...ooopps don't talk about that.

http://www.tomvalentine.com/html/karrick2.html

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I'm assuming the waste product would be iron oxide. What do you do with it?

[dinasour]

Even if this worked, it would have to emit a lot of iron oxide exhaust. Even if iron oxide is not particularly poisonous, I wouldn't think rust particles settling on everything could be called pollution free.

Secondly, most of the iron that we get comes from an oxide ore. You have to expend a lot of energy to produce the "fuel". Hydrogen has the same problem. It's just a way to store energy produced somewhere else, not a primary source.

[Dan Evans]

As a fuel, iron is just like hydrogen. It is not a source of energy, there is little or no free iron available on the Earth. You have to make it from oxidized iron. And to do that, you need an energy source.

[gatex]

"Dr Beach suspected the answer was to create very fine metal grains measuring millionths of a millimetre."

Very fine particles autoignite - and sometimes explode. Example - grain elevators.

We were making fine zinc particles in a pilot plant -- discovered that, when drying, the fresh zinc surface reacted with oxygen in the air and autoignited with a blue-green flame.

[Solamente]

Swell, a Daisy Cutter on wheels!

[coloradan]

It's more than a little convenient that the exhaust from burning gasoline, coal, and natural gas is gaseous. Burning metals such as iron, boron, and aluminum produces a solid - which weighs more than the fuel did, being combined now with oxygen. Either the car litters, or it gains weight as it approaches empty.

[Fido969]

"could run," "claimed," believes"

I stopped after a sentance-and-a-half.

[nightdriver]

"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."

Right!

A mixture of powdered aluminum and powdered iron is also what makes up "Thermite" grenades which burn right through an engine block or a tank's armor in a matter of seconds!

Harnessing it to do useful work is another matter, however.

[grjr21]

Watching TV and all the talk about the Miers nomination

I was wondering if they can get a car to run on legal filings
That would be great

[R. Scott]

Ceramic engines?

[foobeca]

Interesting. H, Al, and Fe are some of the most abundant elements on the planet.

[foobeca]

But then again, oil is the 2nd most abundant liquid on the planet, and look how expensive it is.