Text 26825, 74 rader
Skriven 2007-02-02 21:05:20 av John Hull (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 26813 av Mimi Gallandt (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: Wetbacks, the Border, sol
=================================
Mimi Gallandt -> John Hull wrote:
 MG> John Hull -> Mimi Gallandt wrote:
 JH>> Mimi Gallandt -> Jeff Binkley wrote:
 MG>>> Jeff Binkley -> Bob Ackley wrote:
 GB>>>>>>>> There is no need to shoot people just for trying to cross the
 GB>>>>>>>> border.

 JM>>>>>>> Then why have a border?

 GB>>>>>> We can try other things fist, John. You know that. Come on.

 GB>>>>>> The reason its epidemic is the lack of enforcement, the lack of
 GB>>>>>> political action because of politicians wanting the Hispanic
 GB>>>>>> vote as well as allowing business to get cheap labor.

 BA>>>>> Not to mention the fact that American citizens don't want to pay
 MG> the
 BA>>>>> price on goods that's required to pay other American citizens to
 BA>>>>> produce them. Which is why so many manufactured goods are no longer
 BA>>>>> manufactured in this country.

 JB>>>> That's Ok, wait till the libs and greenies wake up and see what
 MG> their
 JB>>>> mad push to ethanol is going to do to energy and food costs.  This
 JH>> was
 JB>>>> predicted but nobody is listening.  Taken further it will actually
 MG>>> cause
 JB>>>> an increase not a decrease in the use of fossil fuels.  But again
 MG>>> heads
 JB>>>> are in the sand. This is the MTBE fiasco all over again.

 MG>>> On the subject of cars and alternative fuels; Ford has announced
 JH>> they're
 MG>>> building a "plug in" hydrogen car. Thought?


 JH>> Yeah, they ought to concentrate on getting solvent before they start
 JH>> gambling on something like that.  My brother works for Ford, and is
 MG> one
 JH>> of only five people in the entire world-wide company that does what he
 JH>> does, and may loose his job in March due to the cutbacks they're
 MG> making.

 JH>> I'm all for a hydrogen car, but the technology is not here yet to
 JH>> support the infrastructure needed.  The car itself is the easy part.

 MG> Thank you, I'm sorry about your brother's job (that sux). I'm pretty
 MG> sure that it's relatively well known here that science is not my strong
 MG> suit so I'm about to ask some seemingly stupid questions. Hydrogen is a
 MG> "gas" of sorts but it's a gas like butane, right? It's unlike butane,
 MG> though, because it's found in the air instead of underground, yes?
 MG> Assuming those two questions are answered "yes" how does one go about
 MG> collecting hydrogen and separating it from oxygen?



No, not like butane.  Hydrogen is an element on the periodic table, like lead
or gold or sodium.  It gives near perfect energy conversion when burned with
oxygen, and the byproduct is potable water - H2O.  So, if you had an
inexhaustable supply of free hydrogen you would have the perfect fuel - maximum
energy conversion to do work, virtually no pollution, and it is self renewing
(by "splitting" H2O, you get back to the base components of pure O2 and
hydrogen).  The problems are that it takes more energy to crack water than you
get out of the process (you'd have to have several nuclear reactors to do that
job to make it viable) and you have to have specially modified engines to burn
hydrogen and store it safely for use.

Then there's the distribution system.  Since it is so volatile, you have to
take special precautions and use special gear, yet it has to be safe enough for
Joe Average to refuel his car without blowing up half the block. That's a tough
nut to crack.

--- Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 (Windows/20061207)
 * Origin:  (1:123/789.0)