Cool science news: Salt water as fuel? Pa. man hopes so

[Flaxbee]

For obvious reasons, scientists long have thought that salt water couldn't be burned.

So when an Erie, Pa., man announced he'd ignited salt water with the radio-frequency generator he'd invented, some thought it a was a hoax.

John Kanzius tried to desalinate seawater with a generator he developed to treat cancer, and it caused a flash in the test tube.

Within days, he had the salt water in the test tube burning like a candle, as long as it was exposed to radio frequencies.

more: http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/26728

[deucemagnet]

1. Wow! Very cool!

I hope his research goes well! :thumbsup:

[Squatch]

2. Cold fusion, what?

[pokerfan]

6. Not cold fusion

It's just electrolysis of water, splitting the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen.

Even the inventor admits that it takes more energy to crack water than is produced when it's recombined, i.e. "burned."

So the laws of thermodynamics haven't been broken.

[stuntcat]

3. sheese I hope so!

And I'm not looking forward to people fighting each other over fresh water so I hope we'll learn to use salt water, like for everything. It's about the only thing we have enough of.

[TZ]

4. This is bunk

Proof that Yahoo is a big "Yahoo" when it comes to understanding science:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=228x33816

No such thing as a perpetual motion machine which this is. Yahoo needs actual scientists on their staff..

[KamaAina]

5. Um, how much energy went into the radio waves?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and take a flying guess that it was more than what came out of the burning water.

Now if these frequencies occur in solar radiation, we might have something -- but what we'd have is a new way to harness solar energy, not a new energy source.

Besides, if this guy really had found a new energy source, he'd be Baxtered before you could say Halliburton backwards. :tinfoilhat: