14
June
2007
How does hydrogen power work? 10:08 on Thursday
Thank you BMW for compacting the explanation of hydrogen power to something even I can now remember forever:
Electricity generated from solar power is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Oxygen is released into the atmosphere, while hydrogen is liquefied and stored at a very low temperature (-253 °C). By cooling hydrogen to -253 degrees Celsius, hydrogen is shrunk to a thousandth of its original volume.
During internal combustion, the hydrogen combines with oxygen. The resulting energy powers the vehicle, while the hydrogen is returned to the environment as water.
Never minding the potential explosive energy of something shrunk into 1/1000 of its volume, hydrogen power sounds pretty sweet.
