Can a car really run on water?

Question

I heard there's this company called Water4gas who makes water powered cars. They say it works by the hydrolysis of water into hydrogen and oxygen. These gases are burnt forming back water.

But then if water forms back, passess through a condenser and gets recycled, that means that the car can run with absolutely no waste emissions as water splits into hydrogen and oxygen which forms water which splits into hydrogen and oxygen which forms water which splits into hydrogen and oxygen which forms water...

That means that the energy is really supplied by the car's battery. Electrical energy get converted into chemical potential energy in the hydorlysis process with is converted into heat and kinetic as it is burnt, driving the engine.

Do you think the water car actually works?

Answer 1

Hard to believe anyone who ever went to school could ask that question. The only way a car could use water as a fuel is if it has an integral hydrogen electrolysis plant to crack the water in to hydrogen and oxygen. Then you could burn the hydrogen. Of course, since current electrolysis technology takes more energy to produce the hydrogen then burning the result yields, the lefty-greeny dream of a car that runs on water is just that, all wet.

Answer 2

No. This is a scam-and its been around for decades.  The idea is to con people into investing in the "company"--thenthe scam artist take s the money and vanishes.

Look, you are correct on one point--the energy comes from bateries (assume you could actually build the car as described (which you can't--a system capable of generating tha tmuch hydrogen and oxygen that could fit in a car--much less be built at a reasonable price, is WAY beyond existing technology) it would be pointless.

Here's why: whatever else happens, the system will have to end up turning a driveshaft to power the wheels.  If you have sufficient battery power to do that, you don't need the rest of the equipment--jsut drive the car directly from the batteries. That would be cheaper--less equipment--and more efficient (NO conversion system can be 100% efficiet--the whole " run on water" system willl use more enrgy than t puts out (second law of thermodynamics).

There are real cars--electric cars--being developed now, by real scientists and engineers. The ones being developed now have performance as good as gas-driven cars.  That s REAL technology--not junk science dreamed up by scam artists to defraud people.

Answer 3

it can work but you will have to recharge the car it is basicly the same way as a hydrogen fuel cell car works. if it is saying that it just runs of water it is a con because they energy required for splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen is greater then the energy you get back.

BTW internal combustion engines will still emit nitrous oxides unless they can keep out nitrogen from the atmosphere from the combustion chamber.

Answer 4

Yes and no.  I began researching on this when I found it.  The thing is, as some one said, you still need energy to hydrolyze the water, and because there is a net loss of energy in "any" energy transfer (nuclear/coal/etc --> electricity --> battery --> electrolysis -->energy to move car.) the idea is somewhat useless,...until you take it further.  

The conventional internal combustion engine of the modern automobile has a LOT of wasted energy.  The heat created in the combustion chamber is discarded, primarily through your radiator system and your exhaust system.  Some applications attempt to harness this energy.  There has been at least one car, a Ford Escort, turned into a hydrolysis/gasoline hybrid.  (You can find the website, but I forget it's name.)  Some excess energy from the engine was used to hydrolyze water which in turn fed into the engine.  There was a claim of both increased power and fuel (gasoline) economy.  The idea is feasible, but a pure hydrolysis car, I think, is ludicrous and wasteful.

I am in the slow (hobby) process of developing my own hydrolysis hybrid for my own vehicle.

My $0.02,

-Michael

Answer 5

I have heard of something like that in the works. It would be so great if they would!!

Answer 6

Not sure about a car, but I have a clock that runs on water

Answer 7

No, you cannot run a car on water alone.  This has been covered many times in the past.  Water does not burn, thus it cannot be used as fuel.  It can be used as a heat transfer medium (e.g. a steam engine) but you need energy to turn the water into steam.  You can get hydrogen from water (though this is not the most efficient way to produce hydrogen) and then burn the hydrogen, but you need energy to break up the water molecule.  Because of the second law of thermodynamics, you will need more energy to break the water molecule than you will recover from buring the hydrogen, so you will need an outside energy source.

These answers will not change as they are based on the way the world works.  Anyone who claims they have developed a way to get around the second law of thermodynamics is a fraud.  Please stop asking this question.  The answer is NO!!! and it will always be NO!!!!

Answer 8

I heard about method which can give us hydrogen by chemical reaction . Splitting water itself is useless I agree with others but there are other substanses to split which contain hydrogen.

Answer 9

Here's a better one that's the "World's Cleanest Car".  It runs on compressed air.

"   After fourteen years of research and development, Guy Negre has developed an engine that could become one of the biggest technological advances of this century. Its application to Compressed Air Technology(CAT) vehicles gives them significant economical and environmental advantages. With the incorporation of bi-energy (compressed air + fuel) the CAT Vehicles have increased their driving range to close to 2000 km with zero pollution in cities and considerably reduced pollution outside urban areas.

   The application of the MDI engine in other areas, outside the automotive sector, opens a multitude of possibilities in nautical fields, co-generation, auxiliary engines, electric generators groups, etc. Compressed air is a new viable form of power that allows the accumulation and transport of energy. MDI is very close to initiating the production of a series of engines and vehicles. The company is financed by the sale of manufacturing licenses and patents all over the world."