Recent Comments:
Universal Remote busts out the Complete Control MX-450 {Engadget HD}
Oct 12th 2008 10:53PM I just picked up one of these with a base station and it works marvelously. It was much easier to setup than the harmony remote from Logitech (890 Pro). I've got a pretty crazy A/V setup and this tackles it nicely. Rechargeable would be nice. It would also be nice if you could copy one remote to another.
The hundred gadget giveaway: round 37 {Engadget}
Sep 13th 2007 9:48AM Gadgets? Did someone say Gadgets?
The hundred gadget giveaway: round 36 {Engadget}
Sep 12th 2007 10:02PM Gadgets, they're wonderful gadgets...
The hundred gadget giveaway: round 35 {Engadget Mobile}
Sep 12th 2007 6:06PM Pretty please.
The hundred gadget giveaway: round 34 {Engadget Mobile}
Sep 12th 2007 9:39AM Precious gadgets
The hundred gadget giveaway: round 34 {Engadget Mobile}
Sep 12th 2007 9:34AM Precious gadgets
The hundred gadget giveaway: round 32 {Engadget}
Sep 11th 2007 11:05PM I could do without the Elvis.
The hundred gadget giveaway: round 31 {Engadget}
Sep 11th 2007 3:38PM I'll take that one over there.
Can saltwater be burned as fuel? {Engadget}
Sep 11th 2007 3:35PM I must quote Stephen Novella of the New England Skeptical Society and the Skeptics Guide to the universe. An excerpt from his July 9, 2007 article: "Salt Water Fuel? Be Very Skeptical."
"A modicum of physics knowledge tells us, as I pointed out in my last post, that energy is not free – you cannot get energy from nothing. So whenever I see a demonstration like Kanzius’s burning salt water I ask – where is the energy coming from? That’s a good basic first step in dealing with any scientific claim dealing with energy.
Is the energy being released from chemical bonds (that’s the source of energy is gasoline and most fuels)? Is it nuclear, electromagnetic, solar, kinetic, thermal, or what? In this case it seems that the radio frequencies (RF) is separating the hydrogen and oxygen in the water which, when ignited, burns by turning back into water and producing a flame. Such a flame should be colorless, but the sodium in the salt water is probably providing the yellow color.
If this is true then has Kanzius indeed figured out how burn water as fuel? No.
A fuel, by definition, is a source of energy – energy is stored in it and can be released by burning. Fuels that already exist in a form that contains the energy that will be released in burning are true sources of energy, like fossil fuels. Others need to be made, like hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cells. (Hydrogen needs to be made only because there is no significant source of free hydrogen on earth.) Therefore we have to expend energy to create hydrogen, then we get a portion of that energy back when we burn it. So hydrogen and similar fuels are energy carriers, not energy sources.
It is clear in the case of Kanzius’s technique that salt water is not an energy source. It is not even an energy carrier, like manufactured hydrogen. It is rather just an energy conduit. The ultimate energy source is the electricity that is running the RF creator. The machine turns electricity from the grid into radio waves that carry this energy to the water molecules, splitting them apart and putting them into a higher energy state. They can then be burned back into the lower energy water state, getting back some of the energy that went into splitting them apart.
Of course, the second law of thermodynamics states that when transferring energy from one state to another some energy must be lost. You can never reach 100% efficiency. So the whole process is a complete waste, as far as energy is concerned.
Even still, the process itself is interesting. Salt is playing some role as a catalyst apparently, since water without salt will not work. This may turn into an efficient method of creating hydrogen for fuel cells or for desalination (which was what it was originally designed to accomplish).
Conclusion
I find it odd that Kanzius himself cannot make this basic analysis of his claims. The glaringly obvious question of where is the energy coming from was not even addressed. As usual we can only speculate about motives."
The hundred gadget giveaway: round 30 {Engadget}
Sep 11th 2007 10:52AM Pretty pretty please.
