What will this discovery of being able to burn salt water do to the Arabian societies?

Question

How will the people who inhabit nations whose SOLE product is oil respond to the threat of another resource (ocean water) being used as a fuel in place of oil? Since oil is the ONLY product of any significance to come out of the Middle East, won't this translate into the demise of the Arabian Culture in general? How many rug makers will it take to generate the revenue that one tanker full of oil can generate?

My suspicion is that the leaders in the Middle East might want to buy stock in the company that produces Ambien or other sleep aids as well as keep their gun cabinets unlocked at night.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8RIRI600&show_article=1

Not sure what one of you is asking about RF energy. According to some claims it produces temperature from 1400 deg C to 3000 deg F, depending on your source. So, forgive me for forgetting all this stuff my thermo professors taught me some years ago, but my tiny brain, for some reason, remembers the standard/baseline temp for a hydrocarbon (gas) combustion to be 1800 degrees C, roughly. So, this is in the ballpark!

Another issue about saltwater, and this is one of which my father reminded me earlier this evening, is that there was some motivation some years ago to harvest gold from saltwater, but that never happened. So this MAY be nothing but a scant discovery by some inventor. We shall see!

So far, ALL of you get a thumbs up from me! Way to go, guys, and gals if any of you has answered too.

Even Mr. Wizard gets a thumbs up from me -regardless of his fear that GWB is out to kill this idea!

Yep, Me_Unlike_You, you MAY be right. Again, this is a development in its infancy. Who knows? This MAY be like those people who want to put little propellers on their cars that they can connect to turbines and then recharge the batteries. So, you MAY be correct. Thanks for the reality check, man!

Hey, Rabbityama! Isn't there a separation between Oil and Islam in the Arab World like we have between Church and State here in the United States? *laughter*

The purpose of utilizing this "new" fuel wouldn't be to STRIP them of their income! It's would be a new and better fuel! Good thing Islamists weren't known for making horsewhips back at the turn of 19th century! *laughter*

Oh! You have received my only thumbs-down vote for this question so far too!

Your question about RF, scruffy_scirocco, may make me think that you would question the source of the spark used to ignite the air/fuel mixture in an internal combustion engine! The engine generates the power for that spark on its own! The radio signal, somehow, does something to the salt water to seperate the H2 and O2 gases. No idea what it will use to ignite the gases. It may require a whole new cycle - not the Otto cycle that IC engines use!

It looks as though there is enough energy with the combustion of this material to pursue this and make it into a workable system that produces nothing but WATER.

Then why does gas work, Disco Stu?

Sure, it MAY be another perpetual-motion machine, but it looks really neat in the video to see them zapping what is claimed to be normal salt water in a test tube and seeing the flame shooting out the top of that test tube.

Answer 1

They will lose all their wealth and be forced back to the stone age like before oil was discovered there.

Also, no money, no terrorism. They'll have to go back to killing each other like they have for centuries.

Answer 2

I suspect this will do exactly the same thing for Arabian society as for every other society: absolutely nothing.

Basic laws of physics and chemistry prevent this from working. Follow the cycle:

Energy in --> radio waves ---> water ---> hydrogen/oxgyen ---> water + energy out

Energy out cannot exceed energy in. The water is already "burned". Going from water --> hydrogen/oxygen and then back to water CANNOT have a net energy output, and will certainly come up short to at least some extent.

This kind of "water fuelled" whatever has been around for at least 30 years and also proves to be an impossible perpetual motion machine. Anything that runs on this effectively runs on the electricity which makes the radio waves.

Sorry. There is no such thing as "free" energy. It always must come from a potential.

Answer 3

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't anyone else see a very simple thermodynamics violation here?

You put in RF energy, enough to break up water into hydrogen and oxygen.

You burn the hydrogen, which releases energy and reforms oxygen.

Unless you have 100% efficiency (which you can't have,) the energy generated from burning the hydrogen has to be less than the energy you put in (through the RF waves) so it can't possibly sustain itself. You get a net loss of energy.

It's just hydrolysis through RF waves.

Answer 4

Red_F (and perhaps you, as well, based on your "keep their gun cabinets open" comment) does not know Islamic history at all. The Middle East has not had a very violent history. Most of the violence has occurred in recent times with the displacement of Palestinians by the U.S. and Europe, the creation of arbitrary national borders by the U.S. and Europe, and the instation of corrupt, unpopular leaders by the U.S. and Europe. Fundamentalism was present in Judaism and Christianity long before it entered Islam. Fundamentalism in Islam did not begin until the 1970s.

Anyways, if Iran has nuclear weapons, the world WILL listen to what it has to say, regardless of whether or not the nation has oil, and Israel/Palestine are important to places beyond the Middle East, as well.

as far as terrorism is concerned, the terrorists have a complex and large enough network that they could probably acquire money regardless of where it is

If the rest of the world were to strip them of their income with the purpose of destroying them, this would be a great affront to Islam and its people (and I don't mean terrorists. I mean all Muslims) Islam promotes activism, so the people would not just lay down and die. They would seek out alterior means of producing income to re-establish their place in the world.

**edit: Duh, there's a separation between Islam and oil, but oil is their main source of income, therefore, they will be concerned about it. The fact that many of the nations claim to be theocracies (or at least attempt to rule in a way that is appropriate by the Muslim faith) does make the concerns of the nation the concerns of the faithful. The oil itself holds no value to Islam, but it is the source of interraction between the Middle East and the world, and THAT is if interest to Muslims. Taking away the revenue from an Islamic theocracy does send the message that you don't like Islam. Once again, if you look at the history between the West and the Middle East, you would know that the West has always been condescending and disrespectful of the people, their beliefs, and their way of life (which all relate to Islam, because it's so much apart of their society), so their scepticism and distrust are justified.

Anyways, you gave me a thumbs down because I didn't say anything ignorant or make a snide remark about the Middle East. Stupid comments like "how many rugs makers will it take to generate the revenue that one tanker full of oil can generate" and "keep their gun cabinets unlocked at night" are displays of your ignorance.

I suppose you think you're clever because you mixed in your prejudices with an actual question. Next time, try a little harder and maybe NO ONE will notice!

Answer 5

OPEC is not going to like this: The USA science community has announced we can make fuel out of saltwater---and there's an abundance of it to last eons.

Frankly, I'm shocked American Big Oil, who also stands to fall, hasn't taken drastic measures to suppress and/or silence this amazing scientific feat!!

You can bet the Bush White House knows about this--and we all should raise the hell necessary to call for water's historic implemention as a fuel source ASAP.

Spread the word as much as you can: America has discovered how to use saltwater as a fuel source---and we should press hard the push to make it available for automobile use ASAP. Don't let this fact die out!!

Answer 6

This article sounds like snake oil to me. Is the energy released from the burning of hydrogen enough to support generation of the RF energy? I doubt it.

Answer 7

its an exciting thing, but lets see what comes of it. We still may need fossil fuels for next 20 or 30 years while this id developed.
hopefully by then they can stabalize themselves or they might find themselves war torn. or more war torn.