The released hydrogen would rise to the top of the atmosphere and be blown away from the Earth by the solar wind.
2007-01-09 12:14:59 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
If you crack the H2 from water or methane and it is released is there not still a limited supply?
2007-01-09 12:29:48 · update #1
Uh, you can't mine hydrogen. You electrolyze it from water. We can't run out of hydrogen through a leak, unless you think we could use up all the water. And if we used up all the water to make hydrogen, we'd all be dead anyway. That, and I don't think enough energy exists to electrolyze all the water in the world. Compared to the amount of water, the amount of free hydrogen is inconsequential. A leak could happen, though.
2007-01-09 12:22:50 · answer #1 · answered by Edgar Greenberg 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A good question--and fortunately the answer is no. The reason is that in the event of an accidental release, the hydrogen would combine with oxygen to form water (in the form of water vapor) long before it could get to the top of the atmosphere.
Which means it will be going back to the form it was in before it was produced. That's because, by the time we get to the point hydrogen is practical, we'll get it by splitting it out from water by electrolysis--with the electricty probably coming from solar power. Since the exhaust of a hydrogen cell is just water, the whole system is a fully renewable resource.
BTW--right now we get hydrogen from oil--but getting it from water is a much better way--and as the price of solar energy continues to fall (it's fallen by half in just the last 5 years) that will soon be the cheapest way to go.
2007-01-09 20:30:39 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hydrogen is the only element light enough to escape the earth's gravity and wander off into space. It would take an awful lot of accidental release to deplete our supply. I wouldn't be surprised if hydrogen released into the atmosphere ended up combining with oxygen to make water, but I'm no expert.
2007-01-09 20:27:02 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No hydrogen is a renewable resource
Hydrogen may be produced from water using the process of electrolysis, but this process is presently significantly more expensive commercially than hydrogen production from natural gas.
2007-01-09 20:21:46 · answer #4 · answered by Randy M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Plenty of hydrogen in the oceans. A meteor will get us, or the sun will die before we vent away the oceans
2007-01-10 00:50:22 · answer #5 · answered by walter_b_marvin 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hydrogen is 78% of the entire air.
2007-01-09 20:20:56 · answer #6 · answered by The Answerer 3 · 1⤊ 4⤋