Can a car engine run on just water? Using high electrical energy input to the spark plug.

Question

The coil on a car puts out 34000 volts at .78 amps, Can the amps be incressed to an amount that will cause the water to flash expand inside the engine with enough power to move the piston with enough force to drive the engine and get power enough to move the car.

Answer 1

Waste of power.  Higher heat.  If you want the car to run on electric then use a dynamo.  Converting electrical energy back into mechanical by heating the water to form water vapor with such force as to power a car is wasteful since such great heat will be generated as to make it inefficient (energy loss).  

Answer 2

An ordinary spark plug wouldn't do it.

You might manage to 'flash' water to steam

by another electrical means.

You could build a steam engine on that principle,

but it would be woefully inefficient.

Answer 3

No, a spark plug can't supply near enough energy to boil that much water.

A cylinder contains about 400 mL of water, or 0.4kg

To boil that takes about 1000 kJ of energy

A spark plug produces a lot less. It does NOT produce 34kv at .8 amps, that's 26kw, a 2000 amp drain on the battery.

But bottom line, even if you somehow supplied enough energy to boil the water, the amount of power produced would be about 20% of the power it took to boil the water.

.

Answer 4

No.  This violates thermodynamical laws.

The energy you use to expand the water will always be greater than the energy the water imparts to the piston.  Gasoline contains intrinsic chemical potential energy, and this is released by converting the gasoline to water vapor and carbon dioxide, but water has no useful chemical energy.  The only thing you'd do by zapping it with electricity is heat it up slightly.

An engine that runs on unpressurized water as a fuel can never work.

Answer 5

It can be done. But not the way most people would think it should be done. The technology is all over the internet. I suggest you do a bit of experimenting yourself. I started on mine and I've been able to create HHO using tap water, a set of electrodes, some electronic circuitry, and my car's electrical power. I believe an hydrogen generator, properly designed, can produce enough hydrogen and oxygen gases to power an internal combustion engine. I've read on some internet pages that some people have successfully done it. As far as some people telling you it can't be done because it would take an enormous amount of energy to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen, don't believe them coz they don't know what they're talking about.  

Answer 6

Maybe, but you would need to use a lot more electrical power than you'd get mechanical power out, due to friction and thermal inefficiency.

If you have the electricity, you'd be a lot better of with an electric motor.

If you really want a steam engine, an external boiler will probably be more effective.