|
|
BuckyGas
A group of scientists are claiming to have discovered a means of storing hydrogen using buckminsterfullerene, better known as "bucky balls." The soccer-ball-like molecules appear to be able to strong enough to hold a hydrogen at a density approaching that of the depths of Jupiter. At least, that's what the press release says. If it actually pans out (and that's a big damned if), we may some day be able to power hybrids using something that will vaguely resemble plastic sand.
I'm pretty sure it would Be Bad to hit a bag full of that stuff with a hammer. But wtf do I know?
Dunno, anything a hammer could do to them could also be done with gases in the air. I'm guessing they have quite a bit of overengineering in their structural integrity, but the problem sets in when you have molecular containers that strong and you suddenly need to get a couple sextillion of them open with every spin of the crankshaft.
Don't we have other molecules that can store hydrogen without wrapping them completely in a shell? I'm thinking a molecule modeled after a cluster of grapes would be better at both storing and releasing hydrogen than 60+ carbon atoms to each hydrogen atom.
Posted by: Tatterdemalian on March 22, 2008 12:52 PMIf you have X amount of energy stored, regardless of how it's stored, that's X amount of energy that can be released. If X is large enough to power an automobile for a practical length of time, X is a dangerous amount of energy to release.
Gasoline? I once had an empty car gas tank explode under me. I don't remember much, but the foreman said it was spectacular. Later that summer, two guys were killed at another scrapyard by an exploding "empty" gas tank.
Batteries? Electrocution.
Stored energy is always dangerous, period.