hydrogen, how safe is it??? remember the Heidelberg dirigible???

Question

ALL THE TALK OF CARS ETC.RUNNING ON HYDROGEN.IS THIS THE WAY TO GO OR MASS SUICIDE??? STEVE

Answer 1

I think you mean the Hindenberg - a giant airship which caught fire as it was "docking"... the last and most public of a number of airship disasters (not all of them associated with hydrogen).

Hydrogen is actually quite comparable with petroleum in terms of it's ability to burn or explode (when pure both burn, when mixed with air both explode... although hydrogen is actually less "explosive" in as much as the energy and heat generated is less).

As far as the use of hydrogen to power cars is concerned, the publicly perceived danger of hydrogen in the "gas tank" is being dealt with in order to also solve another problem... storage of sufficient hydrogen to get any sort of useful "mileage" out of the stored fuel.

Basically Hydrogen is not "dense" like liquid fuels so a normal size gas tank would only be enough to move a car a short distance. Therefore there is a need to store it in a more dense form. Liquifying hydrogen requires that it is cooled (and kept cool) - this is estimated to require about 40% of the total energy "stored" in the hydrogen (in other words if you had a tank full of liquid hydrogen, 40% would be used to keep it liquid and only 60% to move the car along, run the air-conditioning, CD player, electric windows, etc. etc). In its liquid form, hydrogen is much less volatile - so safer.

The solution seems to the "40% to cool the hydrogen" problem seems to lie in allowing the hydrogen to be chemically bound to some other medium within the "gas tank" and released as required. This may involve binding to one of a number of rare metals or metal alloys. In this "bound" form the hydrogen would be very safely stored... although the "gas tank" would be much more expensive and more equivalent to a large fuel cell - refuelling would perhaps be a matter of replacing the "discharged" cell with a new fully charged one in the same way as a used battery is replaced. Hydrogen stored in this form would be entirely safe.

Generation of hydrogen in the first place is also a problem at present... the simplest approach is to split water molecules (H2O) into hydrogen and oxygen... but at present this requires large amounts of electricity. The are two possible environmentally friendly solutions to this:-
1. use electricity generated from solar power
2. use a biochemical method. Basically the process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen occurs in the leaves of plants as part of the process of photosynthesis. If this process could be recreated to run separately on a giant industrial scale then much of the energy requirements of the planet may be dealt with.

Answer 2

There was no "Heidelberg". There was a Hindenberg.

Hydrogen safety is certainly a concern, just one of several. Images of the Hindenberg disaster certainly come to the minds of many even though it's been over 65 years since that fateful day.

But, there is a major difference between a high-strength steel tank and what was essentially a paper bag filled with hydrogen. Not to mention that it was sealed against leaks with a nitro-cellulose based compound -- an unstable explosive in its own right!

One positive aspect of hydrogen is that it's lighter than air. If there was a large release in an accident, it would rise away from the accident scene instead of coating everything in a 30 foot circle with burning liquid as gasoline or diesel fuel does.

The more significant issues with hydrogen have little to do with safety. The cost of generating it is the most significant problem. The other is the fact that the hydrogen molecules are so small that they can pass through the walls of even a steel container so much is lost in storage.

Answer 3

Hydrogen could be used in any vehicle that burns petroleum products, and it is no more dangerous than those products. With a minimum of expense, our current vehicles could be converted, and the danger of explosion would not change from the current configuration.

Hydrogen can be made in any backyard using rain water and sunshine, so the oil industry is in a panic, and they are propagating a lot of negative propaganda regarding hydrogen. And view all that energy cell stuff with a grain of salt as well. The simple fact is that you can burn hydrogen in just the same way you burn gasoline and propane.

And, for the record, had the Hindenburg been filled with vaporized gasoline (unlikely, because it's heavier than air, but I put this forward rhetorically), the resulting explosion would have been in the range of a small nuclear detonation.

The American nation, and the world, for that matter, are being held hostage by the oil industry. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, and is simple to make. What would be an enormous step forward for humanity would spell the death of Standard Oil, and they have the money, power and know-how to hold this all back, and prolong their stranglehold.

Answer 4

Since the dirigible disasters scientists realised how dangerous hydrogen was. !!
However they have now managed to make it safe for cars by putting the gas in a'carrier' and then putting it in a tank in your.
car.
They tested it by firing a rifle at the tank, not much happened. You try doing that to an old fashioned gas tank. Its also a lot more friendly to the environment.

Answer 5

Running an engine on hydrogen could be much safer than filling a dirigible with this gas. The fuel we use now, gasoline, is already quite volatile, and yet pretty safe. Various gases are now often kept in canisters: notably oxygen and propane. We run our stoves on "natural gas." And many buses run on liquefied natural gas. I would guess that hydrogen, if used as a fuel, would be contained in a canister, and could be made safe.

Answer 6

Hydrogen is safe for vehicles, but not all that great for the environment. Yes the only thing coming out of the tail pipe is water but where did the hydrogen come from in the first place?

From water, split into hydrogen and oxygen by huge amounts of electricity generated by nuclear and coal power plants.

Answer 7

I have used it for years as a mouthwash.. but not full strength.. dilute it with water... about 2 parts water to 1 part hydrogen peroxide. It was proven years ago to reduce inflamation and gingivitis. It is recommended to be used several times a week.. not necessary every day.

Answer 8

The Heidelberg? How about the Hindenburg? Oh, the humanity!

Answer 9

Public transport buses here in Perth, Western Australia are hydrogen fueled. See website for TransPerth. No explosions, exhaust output is water.

Answer 10

WOW, hydrogen explodes when mixed with air...

I don't frikkin' think so!

I went to Heidelberg a couple weeks ago and didn't see the monument.