Fuel of the future

Roland,

I'm surprised iron has much energy in it, it might be a good way of stopping cylinder wear though, constantly replenishing the cylinder walls ;-).

It has sparked off the idea that gunpowder engines might be a practicality with air-blast injection.

Regards, Arthur G

the future might be nano-particles of

"Roland Craven" wrote

Brings back memories of burning wire wool in oxygen at school. What does the exhaust consist of - rust?

Alfa Romeo's

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

Gentlemen,

All well and good but wouldn't we be pumping out more oxides and what has a reindeer got to do with it :-((

Mart> Today's New Scientist has an article about USA research suggesting

No oxides as the iron is oxidised i.e. burnt. In theory the dust is recovered and reconstituted with hydrogen. Reindeer poo is the catalyst.... ttfn Roland

"Roland Craven" wrote (snip):-

Interesting, how does the energy density of iron stack up against a hydrocarbon fuel?

"Nick H" wrote >

Can't find any info on web (at least not quickly) but I did come across this:-

Some of the numbers may be a bit debatable (I like the comment about It not being permissible to be viewed or used by anyone who is or has ever met a lawyer), but just looking at orders of magnitude it is easy to see why a quantum leap in batterytechnology is required if pure electric vehicles are ever to compete in any other than very specialised (ie short range) applications.

Brings back memory's of stone dust explosions in the mines

Not these days - they don't go for long enough to collect the little bit of salt they need to rust! Pretty, but fragile!

Brian L Dominic

Web Sites: Canals:

of the Cromford Canal: (Waterways World Site of the Month, November 2005) Mid-Derbyshire Light Railway: Newsgroup readers should note that the reply-to address is NOT read: To email me, please send to brian(dot)dominic(at)tiscali(dot)co(dot)uk

I'll second that! (dead Alfa GTV in driveway).

Why is it that years ago the tin-work used to fall off the wonderfully engineered running gear and engine and now the tin-work (aka plastic) outlasts the oily bits by a factor of 10:1?

It used to be that you could do 20,000 miles before the body fell off, now you do 20,000 miles before the engine blows up!

The only consistent aspect are the electrics that are b******d before they leave the factory - just as they have always been. You could almost be forgiven for dreaming of a Lucas equipped car!

Mark

When we had lots of 'em with the Tiptronic transmissions, we used to reckon that if they got down the road for half-a-mile or so, they'd be OK. We did have one that failed at the exit gate..................

Brian L Dominic

Web Sites: Canals:

of the Cromford Canal: (Waterways World Site of the Month, November 2005) Mid-Derbyshire Light Railway: Newsgroup readers should note that the reply-to address is NOT read: To email me, please send to brian(dot)dominic(at)tiscali(dot)co(dot)uk

When I was a wee lad I was visiting my grandparents in a small town in Washington state. My grandmother and I were in her car at a stoplight approaching an old iron bridge . There was a Volkswagen dealership on the corner. I watched a new Volkswagen hatchback (air cooled) pull out of the lot and head across the bridge. I assume that it was a customer on a test ride. I noticed flames began to appear out of the back of the car. It proceeded across the bridge, turned around at the far end and calmly head back to park in the lot at the dealership. The guy got out of the car, faced the salesman and pointed at the back of the car. I wonder what he said? Regards Scott