[GRLUG] OFF TOPIC Electric Car

[Michael Mol]

On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 1:39 PM,  <Bill_Raterink at spartanstores.com> wrote:
>
> I'm sorry if this is not the correct way to reply to the post, but...
>
> Has anyone considered the "Air Car"?  Sounds like a possibility, but the
> forums I've read say its both
> the "be all/end all" & a hoaxamous maximous.   I'm not knowledgeable enough
> to pick a side.
>
> Seems like you'd need one MAJOR compressor to refill it.
> Thanks.

There are a few problems with a car powered by compressed gas, but I
think most of them boil down to one: It's as unstable a fuel as you
can possibly have.  Gasoline evaporates slowly at room temperature,
and only converts to *really* gaseous components once combusted, so
containment and protection is relatively simple.  Compressed gas, on
the other hand, continually applies significant force on its
container.  Consider that the same amount of work is ready to be done
to your tank as would be done to move your two-ton car however many
miles, and then consider what happens if a crack forms in that
tank--all that energy is released at once.

Odd as it may sound, chemical fuels, even hydrogen gas, are much
stabler--and therefore safer.

-- 
:wq