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The Power of Water Essay

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There is a balloon the shape and size of a beach ball. A string keeps it tethered to the ground. Someone in a white lab coat stands about eight feet away with a rod about as long with a small flame on the end. They put on a protective headset and put the flame in contact with the floating balloon. Not even a second later the balloon violently explodes in a large fireball and a loud bang. All that remains of the balloon is the string that held it down and invisible molecules of water vapor now floating through the room. With the continuing buzz on the issue of global warming and the general rise of cost of fossil fuels alternatives have been explored. One of these is hydrogen power in the form of the hydrogen fuel cell. This source of power …show more content…

In order to understand the why behind the need to change from fossil fuels to hydrogen power, it is necessary to understand what that power is and how it works. Hydrogen is the most abundant and simplest element on earth. It is most commonly found as part of water. In its pure gaseous form it is extremely light, but when ignited in this state releases a large amount of energy in an explosion. In this violent reaction the hydrogen combines with free oxygen molecules in the atmosphere and creates water vapor. This is similar to the way gasoline is combined with air and ignited in an internal combustion engine in the cars used today and like with gasoline, the combustion of hydrogen has risks. In addition to the risk, some of the energy released in the reaction is lost in the form of sound and heat. As an alternative to burning, these same gases can be combined with the use of catalysts to extract the free electrons produced as liquid water is formed(Popovici and Hoble Dorel). Using cables connected to a fuel cell such as this, those electrons go through a circuit, generating electricity. This is more efficient than combustion because less energy is wasted in the form of sound and heat. Going further, greater efficiency for this reaction can be had the lower the temperature it is allowed to take place at, with 83% power at 25◦C(77◦ F)(Popovici and Hoble Dorel). As fuel cells are created with better heat management and

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