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Underground > Laboratory >

Burning Water

13:41 / 13.09.07

Apparently, when salt water is exposed to RF radiation, the hydrogen disassociates and can be burned. No word yet on the efficiency of the process, but it will be interesting to see how this develops - even if it's not possible to get energy out of the process (which I wouldn't assume it to be, given that this is a purely chemical process and we're still constrained by the 2nd law of thermodynamics) it could be a real boon for the hydrogen economy if it gives a better yield than electrolysis.

Article here.

jentacular dreams

14:22 / 13.09.07

Very interesting - though part of me is still raising a skeptical eyebrow. Obviously heat and rust might be problematic. I wonder how important frequency, amplitude and signal strength are? And does it have to be NaCl? what about other salts. I have questions dammit!

I wasn't clear whether the hydrogen was burning with postaqueous or entirely atmospheric oxygen though? My limited understanding of chemistry suggests that as the hydrogen goes you'll either get a buildup of NaCl as the oxygen goes with it, or start accruing sodium oxide and evaporating chlorine (which a safety data sheet informs me can explode on contact with hydrogen)?

18:18 / 13.09.07

yea; while part of me finds this interesting (assuming it holds up to peer review), another part is raising its eyebrow and saying "....yes, and?"

18:27 / 13.09.07

I saw this on the Wired blog, and some of the commenters there pointed out that 1. the prof who's into this discovery is also into homeopathy & a few other odd things (which is OK, but...) and 2. there's a good chance that the radio waves going in might take nearly as much energy as could be taken out from the flame.

Although a couple other people did point out that 3. the flame looked like a sodium flame, not a hydrogen one, which is sort of interesting.

19:38 / 13.09.07

while part of me finds this interesting (assuming it holds up to peer review), another part is raising its eyebrow and saying "....yes, and?"

Not a very scientific comment, but isn't there a mention in the Book of Revelations about a third of the seas catching fire? Or was it the sky?

Anyway, the rapture is coming.

21:29 / 13.09.07

No, in Revelation the third of the sea turns to blood, and fire comes from the sky.

Nothing like this, I'm afraid.

06:46 / 14.09.07

Oh, yeah! Sorry. Carry on, people

Closed for Business Time

08:39 / 14.09.07

Since these kinds of news often turn into slag-fests (it hasn't here, yet) directed at the creator (often deservedly so IMO) - it's worth noting that the cancer treatment that Kanzius originally developed the tech for is currently in further development at what I gather is one of the most respected cancer research & treatment centres in the US. So he's not a total loonie.

By the by, some time back I linked to a paper by Dr. Roy here.

09:03 / 14.09.07

Do you guys think this could be engineered into a weapon that targets only organic matter (kinda like microwaves do)? A "spontaneous" human combustion gun, so to speak. I mean, our bodies are full of water with lots of salts in it...

14:08 / 14.09.07

saw this on the Wired blog, and some of the commenters there pointed out that 1. the prof who's into this discovery is also into homeopathy & a few other odd things (which is OK, but...)

I first heard this from a friend of mine, who said "there's a guy who was trying to desalinate water while looking for a cure for cancer who discovered that he could burn water by hitting it with radio waves" And I cut him off right there. It just seemed ridiculous. Upon further research, it seems a little more serious, but that phrase by itself still screams "wtf"

Do you guys think this could be engineered into a weapon that targets only organic matter (kinda like microwaves do)? A "spontaneous" human combustion gun, so to speak. I mean, our bodies are full of water with lots of salts in it...

Well, they already have the "active denial system" which is basically a giant microwave antenna that heats (boils?) the water in the first layer of your skin. I guess if they wanted to, they could expand on that idea. Of course, it will probably be take an enourmous amount of energy to do so...

17:50 / 14.09.07

One video of the experimental process.

18:34 / 14.09.07

that's wicked cool.

I emailed the link to my chemist relatives to see what their reaction is. I am curious to find out if the input of RF is lower than the output of the flame?

04:39 / 21.09.07

any word back, xk?