So first off this is a hydrogen fuel cell. This car obtains hydrogen by electrolysis, which is the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen by the simple use of electricity. The hydrogen then is channeled into a small balloon like fuel tank which you can see in the pictures. Now the hydrogen is put into the actual fuel cell. This type of car is oxygen breathing so it simply takes oxygen from the atmosphere and combines it with hydrogen to create water and free electrons which are made to do work which turns the wheels. I thought it was a pretty cool little car and it can be powered by AA batteries or even better a solar panel which came with it. Well I just thought that I would tell you about this and possibly get you interested in fuel cells, though really just to show off some of my toys.
And here is a slideshow of all the pictures if you want to see them: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22640592@N08/show/
The Fool
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4 comments:
Great article on the fuel cell. I heard that in California a few locomotives have been equipped with huge fuel cells. It's an early attempt at cleaning up all of the soot from diesel engines, but have fuel cells really come that far? Are they practical for large applications yet? What do you think?
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Well fuel cells are becoming more and more practical though it really takes more energy to produce the hydrogen than is worth the effort, if you simply put the energy into a battery and run the car off that then it will last much longer and give you more power. But they are getting there, I would say give it five to ten years and they will be coming into use at least with some groups. And I think eventully once solar and other renewable energies become widespread and more energy readily available then fuel cells will become mainstream. But only time will tell.
The Fool
Cool car, how much and where did you get it!
I got it from amazon for a little over $100. Here is a link if you want to check it out: Fuel cell car/>. Its really pretty neat to see the thing actually work off nothing but a bottle of water and some sunlight.
The Fool
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