It was just a thought, but I have an old chevy truck and wanted to know if it was possible to make a small lightweight hydropower generator located in the bed of the truck that would turn rushing water into electricty from curved blades built into each tire location to transport the water to the generator and back to the tire. The truck would run on gas until the generator supported enough power to be substained on its own. Is this possible?
2007-06-09 04:38:36 · 5 answers · asked by majestic 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
No.
Even if a generation system was 100% efficient you would only get the energy out that you put in, and generators fall prey to friction and the fact that you can't get all of the energy out of the fluid that is passing through it.
2007-06-09 04:55:42 · answer #1 · answered by Dan J 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Have you done it yet? If so, why don't you start a company that does this. Surely that would be no problem. If GM won't do it, you can offer some competition with your water car. If it is really good, you will be a billionaire. Also, 12 volts and 20 amps would only generate 240 watts. At 100% efficiency (impossible) that would make 820 BTUs an hour. At 60 mph on the highway a prius would use 180,000 BTUs in one hour.
2016-04-01 12:15:39 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The turbine driving the generator needs to get the water from some source at high pressure and dump it to low pressure. It can't take it from one source and return it to the same source because there would be no flow.
2007-06-11 11:12:28 · answer #3 · answered by Mike R 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hydro-power has that name because it uses water.. The water actually gives it the POWER because of the unstoppable force water can provide.
Thermodynamics or something or other..
2007-06-10 10:06:42 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like a perpetual motion machine, getting more out than what is put in, which is impossible.
2007-06-09 09:18:15 · answer #5 · answered by gatorbait 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋