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New form of water created, could lead to breakthrough in hydrogen fuel

N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
11,003
149
The Cleft of Venus
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg19225764.200-ice-steam-liquid-and-now-a-new-type-of-water.html

"This is a novel material, uniquely different from water," says David Mao, a team member at the Carnegie Institution in Washington DC. "It is very energetic, but stable and does not react back to form water when kept at high pressure."

Once synthesised, the alloy can be stored for over 120 days at temperatures up to 400 °C when kept at high pressure. The team is now characterising the properties of the alloy and Mao suggests that the material could be used as a way of storing and transporting hydrogen for use in fuel cells.
 

Changleen

Paranoid Member
Jan 9, 2004
14,923
2,890
Pōneke
Wow, that's really cool. Sounds a little expensive to process though. I hope it works out, and isn't buried under the rug by big oil.
 

LordOpie

MOTHER HEN
Oct 17, 2002
21,022
3
Denver
find a way to reverse the process and you've probably found the cure for cancer.

I mean, if you bombard water (which the human body is mostly made of) for an extended period of time and you get this brown sluggish alloy? Sounds like cancer water to me.

Which is actually tasty with a slice of lemon.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
56,423
22,508
Sleazattle
I like how it is stable only under high pressure. Spring a leak and err um??? Heading in the right direction though. There are a lot of problems with hydrogen as energy, this only seems to answer the containment and storage portion. Still takes at least as much energy to process the hydrogen as it will release, where do we get that energy from?
 

Changleen

Paranoid Member
Jan 9, 2004
14,923
2,890
Pōneke
I like how it is stable only under high pressure. Spring a leak and err um??? Heading in the right direction though. There are a lot of problems with hydrogen as energy, this only seems to answer the containment and storage portion. Still takes at least as much energy to process the hydrogen as it will release, where do we get that energy from?
The Sun, hopefully.
 

LordOpie

MOTHER HEN
Oct 17, 2002
21,022
3
Denver
I like how it is stable only under high pressure. Spring a leak and err um???
I don't see that as a problem since you have to have a system that's as leak proof as nuclear plants.

non-leak solid barrier
---------------------------
new-water shield
---------------------------
hydrogen
---------------------------
new-water shield
---------------------------
non-leak solid barrier​
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
56,423
22,508
Sleazattle
I don't see that as a problem since you have to have a system that's as leak proof as nuclear plants.

non-leak solid barrier
---------------------------
new-water shield
---------------------------
hydrogen
---------------------------
new-water shield
---------------------------
non-leak solid barrier​

I agree. I think we should be going nukular. My electricity is nukular and everyday I see bumper stickers pleading to prevent any new nuke plants being built in the area. ****ing hippy morons. Although we have yet to provide a good solution for spent fuel.
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
****ing hippy morons. Although we have yet to provide a good solution for spent fuel.
So if a plant keeps producing waste without a safe means of disposal...


Wait, who are the morons again?
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
I agree. I think we should be going nukular. My electricity is nukular and everyday I see bumper stickers pleading to prevent any new nuke plants being built in the area. ****ing hippy morons. Although we have yet to provide a good solution for spent fuel.
Put money into making better breeder reactors :clue:

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor]wikipedia[/url] said:
Even more comprehensive are such systems as the IFR pyroprocessing system, which uses pools of molten cadmium and electrorefiners to reprocess metallic fuel directly on-site at the reactor. Such systems not only commingle all the minor actinides with both uranium and plutonium, they are compact and self-contained, so that no plutonium-containing material ever needs to be transported away from the site of the breeder reactor. Breeder reactors incorporating such technology would most likely be designed with breeding ratios very close to 1.00, so that after an initial loading of enriched uranium and/or plutonium fuel, the reactor would then be refueled only with small deliveries of natural uranium metal. A block of natural uranium metal about the size of a milk crate delivered once per month would be all the fuel such a 1 gigawatt reactor would need. [9] Such self-contained breeders are currently envisioned as the final self-contained and self-supporting ultimate goal of nuclear reactor designers.