Can water be used in place of petrol or diesel in anyway???HOW???

Question

How can we use water as a fuel for vehicles in some technological way???

Answer 1

i'm not sure it's availiable yet. however...

i do know that most ANY gasoline car can undergo a procedure which allows it to run on vegetable oil, and with low emissions. cool. =)

still, i'm not sure how costly or widespread this is. i just saw a documentary on television.

Answer 2

No.

Tony gave an OK answer, with the exception of saying that heat was converted to mechanical energy. It's the pressure from the gasses created (one of which is water vapor) that pushes the piston. Yes, heat increases the pressure in the cylinder chamber, so it is a contributing factor. However, most of the heat produced in a combustion engine is wasted energy.

Anyone that thinks an engine can be run on water is either thinking of steam engine (which requires a fuel source to heat the water) or hydrogen power (which is actually the reaction of hydrogen gas in the presence of oxygen gas to produce, again, water).

Water is always a product of hydrocarbon fuel (gas, coal, veg table oil, natural gas) combustion (unless the oxidant is something other than oxygen gas, but that would have to be under carefully controlled laboratory conditions).

There are two basic sources of energy, solar and nuclear.

All hydrocarbon fuels are the result (either recently or eons ago) of photosynthesis (solar power). Many may have been converted to alternate hydrocarbon forms along the way, but their ultimate source is still the same.

Hydroelectric may be a bit of an exception (to solar and nuclear as the only sources) if one considers steam driven turbines cranked by heating from volcanic vents. But any hydroelectric energy that relies on the movement of water down an elevation grade (like a hydroelectric dam, the most common source of hydroelectric power), also relies on the deposition of water at high elevation (rain) which wouldn't happen if not for the normal water cycle, part of which is evaporation (which relies mainly on the sun).

Vegetable oil is probably one of the most environmentally friendly hydrocarbon fuels (if one assumes complete burning, or emissions at least comparable to a normal gas engine) because it's part of the current carbon dioxide cycle. Any carbon dioxide released from the combustion of vegetable oil is carbon dioxide that was taken out of the atmosphere very recently.

This is not the case for fossil fuels. Unfortunately, maintaining current power requirements with a full scale conversion from fossil fuels to vegetable oil does not seem very feasible.

The good news is that many advances are being made with nuclear power. Recently, a lot of research has gone into re-using the radioactive material (that usually would just be considered dangerous waste) left over from a first run in a power plant. Since it is radioactive, it obviously still has a lot of energy that can be harnessed. In fact, using it repeatedly does help to make the ultimate waste less dangerous. The main obstacle for this kind of nuclear power is just development. Not many plants are set up for this kind of processing... yet.

But hey, there's hope for the future...

Answer 3

Most of the answers are good, specially converting the water to hydrogen fuel. But then it is hydrogen and there are experimental cars now on proving grounds.

Steam engine uses water. But you still need fuel to create steam ( can use wood or farm waste,straws anything that burns) . There were car running on steam before the gas or diesel engines were invented in 1900's, and even after that(Stanley Steamer comes to mind). People have toyed with idea of steam injection to get batter gas economy.

Answer 4

No.

Gas and diesel engines are heat engines. They burn gas and diesel to generate the heat, and convert heat to circular motion to drive the wheels.

Water simply does not burn, and cannot be used to produce heat to turn a heat engine.

There is trace amounts of water in gasoline and diesel fuel, but that is negligible and may cause problems if allowed to build up. IN cold weather it can freeze up and clog the fuel lines, and it can rust fuel pump and other parts and clog the fuel filter with rust.

High humidity, in the air, seems to make fuel burn slower and is considered to give a smoother running engine, and sometimes it is considered to give a bit more power because of this, but I have never heard any tests that prove it one way or the other.

Answer 5

It is in theory possible. But in order to do it, there must be a means of separating the hydrogen from the oxygen in the water. Unfortunately that process requires energy and more energy than results when the two are recombined to form water. So an energy source is required. If such an energy source is available, then it becomes more efficient to use that energy source to directly power the engine than to go through the conversion process.

Answer 6

There are vehicles being developed to run on water, it's done by splitting it into it's gaseous form. The hydrogen is burnt to drive the engine,
Unfortunatly the technology hasn't come far enough yet, it takes more power to break down the water than it produces.

Answer 7

yes
earlier the cars used to run on steam
later on as water was not a better fuel petrol was used

Answer 8

The Olden days used boiling water (steam ) as a way but the problem lies in heating the water.

Answer 9

not really. electrolysis to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen is energy inefficient and very expensive. there is steam heat, but that's not energy effecient either, and would take a major overhall of technology to get it to even function.

Answer 10

Duh,the stupid little cars for kids they built back in the 80's,they weren't much bigger than a hot wheels car,but if you put water in them...boy could they go. People power entire industries using hydro-electric power,I can't imagine it would be too hard to power a car.