Why don't Water Powered Cars already Exist?

will cars ever be powered by water that's the question we will explore today welcome to today's video don't miss out and stay tuned to find out if you will ever be able to fill your car up with water [Music] firstly let's look at what is meant when we say powered by water there is energy in water chemically it's locked up in the atomic bonds between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms to release energy from this water which is very stable it is required to split water molecules apart and separate them into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity this is called electrolysis the hydrogen and oxygen from the water would then need a combustion system that could mix and ignite the gases alternatively a fuel cell could be used that can recombine the hydrogen and oxygen back into water and make electricity which could power a car more on this later when the hydrogen and oxygen combine there's energy left over in the form of heater electrons this energy is converted to mechanical energy by the pistons and crankshaft in an engine or electric motors to move a vehicle what are the problems a water molecule is very stable the energy needed to separate the atoms is no more than what you get back this is the vital reason why this technology is not already being widely used you can most likely see the issue if energy is required to split the water to create new power then an initial source of energy is required if this is a fossil fuel then the benefits of using water to power vehicles are practically pointless of course using a renewable source of energy to separate the water is the answer however doing this efficiently sustainably and cost effectively packaged in a small vehicle is difficult for a consumer there are currently no vehicles offering a fill with water approach plus there's an additional problem the hydrogen produced by electrolysis is dangerously flammable without the right safety measures huge explosions could occur what can we expect in the future it would be cool if we could replace our fuel tanks with water tanks but is this realistic currently cars such as the toyota miria uses fuel cells with hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity to power electric motors this approach relies on the hydrogen being pumped into the vehicle and does not extract the hydrogen from water on board the vehicle the question is can this approach be adopted in the future experts say the energy equation on this type of system is not in reality efficient at all for one the electrolysis process to create hydrogen uses energy such as electricity in the home or an onboard car battery to operate by the laws of nature systems use more energy making hydrogen than the resulting hydrogen itself can supply this is according to dr fabio chiara a research scientist in alternative combustion at the center for automotive research at ohio state university the electrolysis process could be viable to power cars if a renewable non-polluting energy source such as solar or wind could be harnessed to power the splitting of water however capturing enough of that energy source on board the car would be another hurdle you will have heard the word fuel cell in the video lastly let's look at what a fuel cell actually is a fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel often hydrogen and an oxidizing agent often oxygen into electricity fuel cells are different from most batteries requiring a continuous source of fuel and oxygen from the air to sustain the chemical reaction the first fuel cells were invented by sir william grove in 1838 overall a car powered by just water could be possible in the future as for now it seems hydrogen-powered fuel cells are becoming more popular but these vehicles take hydrogen and not water although the hydrogen used in fuel cells is usually produced from water at some point a production vehicle that produces its own hydrogen from water on board has not yet been done we hope you enjoyed the video if you like the content hit that like and subscribe button also turn on notifications to never miss an upload see you in the next video

Channel: ByteSize

Views: 1,011

Keywords: Water powered cars, hydro car, hydrogen car, hydrogen, electrolysis, ByteSize Society, h2o, cars, water cars, alternative transportation, hydrogen combustion, combustion, fuel cells, hydrogen fuel cells, electricity, electric cars, future for cars, future

Id: IA_TStuvy8k

Length: 4min 42sec (282 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 30 2021