WoW, check this out.....Freezing gas prices (literally)

[genieroze]

Freezing gas prices
May 25, 2005, 11:11 AM
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David Hutchinson with his cryogenically enhanced hybrid Honda. (Photo: KFOR-TV-DT)
David Hutchinson with his cryogenically enhanced hybrid Honda. (Photo: KFOR-TV-DT)
Freezing gas prices
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David Hutchison's Website

ALI MEYER REPORTING

Americans guzzle 65 billion gallons of fuel a year and lately we have been paying a pretty penny at the pump. NewsChannel 4 has done reports in the past on how to get the most out of your gas. Now we introduce you to a new way to save on those gasoline dollars.

There is a man who fills up his tank once every two months. One tank of gas, literally, lasts him two months. He is freezing the price of gas by freezing something else.

People complain about the price of gas and we are all spending dearly to stay on the road these days. The money we spend on gas seems to burn up faster than the fuel.

While there may be little rhyme or reason to why the prices are on a perpetual roller-coaster, there is one man who has found a way to freeze them in their tracks, literally.

http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?s=3390503

[mainegreen]

1. I doubt that.

"Cryoizing" or whatever metal to really cold temperatures and warming them up is not going to change the way gasoline explodes. It won't change the amount of pressure generated by X calories of heat. At most he's gunked up the injectors. Sounds like those scams where you put a metal tube in your exhaust system to 'ionize' the pollution. Some people swear that works too!

At best nothing will happen, at worst you'll weaken or crack the components.

[DFLer4edu]

2. Interesting, but two questions

1. Could this ever be done profitably at an industrial level? I mean how much does it cost?
2. I don't remember where I heard this, but I remember hearing that detroit could easily in 10 years, if required to by Washington, make all there cars get 100 miles to the gallon. Is this true, does anybody have a link?

At any rate, let's here it for freezing gas prices!

[kysrsoze]

6. The volvo turbodiesel 100mpg wagon was built in 1983.

Popular Mechanics did a story on it - could have been mass-produced at the time for about $30K with 8-second 0-60 times. I'm thinking Common Rail Diesel technology probably was somewhere in there. The old Honda CRX HF's got almost 60mpg.

[fob]

3. What does it cost to do that? 120 MPG's! I bet at the Big Three

level it would add upwards of $5 to the cost of each car therefore making it "cost prohibitive".

[lapfog_1]

4. Can anyone offer any explanation

as to why this would work? Methinks there is some leg pulling
going on (couple this with a thread in the last few days on a
guy who claims to electrolyze water 1) in an unit small enough
to fit into a car and 2) at a positive energy (less energy needed
to electrolyze than is produced by recombining the hydrogen later).

Also, the last remark about cryo-freezing brakes... that sounds
very dangerous to me. Making brakes last longer sounds dangerous.
Has to do with how braking systems work.

[leveymg]

5. Bet his 120 mpg claims have never been independently verified.

The engine parts, such as the crankshaft, are already hardened. Hardening them further won't make a bit of difference to fuel economy. Also, hardening his brake rotors makes their coefficient of friction proportionally lower, and stopping distances that much longer.

This story is a scam job

[triguy46]

7. Another crackpot story on a crackpot station

I saw this when it aired. KFOR is big on stories short on news. They had no followup to determine why this guy was the only person in the world who had this secret knowledge. No interview with an automotive engineer, chemist, metallurgist, no one. This guy basically had dismantled his honda and froze each of the pieces and now "claims" he has gotten up to 100 mpg.

Of course, for the fundies and *, the scientific method is of no use so there is no need for independent corroboration, or evaluation of his claims.

Freezing metal does not turn it into something else. Mileage is a function of turning an explosion into rotational force with friction/heat being major deterrants to efficiecny, also weight.

I think this is the "Intelligent Design" answer to our problems.

[yella_dawg]

8. Cryogenic treatment is just another flavor of "heat treating" materials.

The same result could be had from chrome plating parts to provide super hard friction surfaces, which, as it turns out, Honda already does to some parts of some products (particularly small {mower}) engines. If this was a major breakthrough, the car racing circuits would be all over it in a moment. They will spend any amount to gain any fuel economy or parts longevity advantage.

This deserves a further (very skeptical) look. But don't get your hopes up.