Fuel Definition and 581 Threads

I understand that generating the hydrogen that powers a typical fuel cell is (prohibitively?) energy intensive at this point, but I was curious about the following: Assuming a sufficiently efficient catalyst was obtained that allowed large-scale production of pure hydrogen without...

Hi everyone, I was looking at some data from the Energy Information Association (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mecs/mecs2006/pdf/Table3_2.pdf\) about the fuel used by different industrial processes. Under the industry of "Petroleum Refining," there is a bit of natural gas and electricity used...

I've done the leg work and have a method to go about a solution for this problem. I just need to get a second opinion before I crunch the numbers on the way I plan to go about this. 1. Homework Statement : Determine the amount of water that needs to be over a spent fuel pool to provide...

what is the average air to fuel ratio in spark ignition engines?

Sorry 1 and 2 aren't filled in very well but I have absolutely no idea what to do for this question. My brain wasn't designed for physics :( Homework Statement Question: A car traveling at 60.0 km/h has a total retarding force of 1500 N due to air resistance. If 1.00 L of petrol can...

Hey folks, I am currently doing some research on hydrogen fuel cells as part of a project. I just wanted to clear up some confusion I am having with the whole *platinum issue.* Very generally speaking, this is what I have gathered on H2 Fuel cell vehicles: 1) Electrolysis is needed to...

I think I got a and b, the rest I did my best on, and I could use some guidance! Thanks!Homework Statement 1. [6] Methane (Natural Gas) Fuel Cell. Consider a fuel cell that uses methane as fuel. The chemical reaction is CH4 + 2O2 = 2H2O + CO2 + energy (a) [0.5] Measurements reveal that...

Homework Statement A breeder reactor is designed to work on a thorium fuel cycle. If the reactor generates a constant thermal power of 2.5GW and a production rate of 233U is 52kg per year. Find the breeding Ratio [You may assume the capture to fission ratio of 233U is 0.09 and the energy...

Hi, I'm working on a commercially available PEM fuel cell and I'm trying to calculate the theoretical voltage of the cell: The only electrochemical reaction considered is H2 + 0.5O2 --> H2O And I understand that I need to use the Nernst equation: E = EO - (RT / 2F) ln (PH2O / (PH2 *...

Just don't understand how that could work, if it does. The only way I could understand it is if the amount of H cracked from input H2O is so infinitessimal that the output H2O mass is nearly unchanged and that waste product is effectively still 100% H2O. Please comment, or send me to the...

What is your opinion of http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6228923n&tag=related;photovideo" segment which appeared on "60 Minutes today (February 21)? It would, if it proves out, apparently make the "fuel Cell" a feasible idea for mass use. KM

From what i understand, the only thing that makes using fuel cells in cars versus lithium batties less desirable, is the cost of hydrogen. If hydrogen can be produced extremely cheaply, assuming the same standards for compressing and transporting and storage of hydrogen, would it be better...

Although a complete cost analysis is much more complicated, the particular question only requires the following: an energy cost estimate (in terms of $/Joule). This was directed to be done by taking volumetric or mass based costs of each fuel as well as the associated energy conent or energy...

Hi, I am doing this science fair thing and for it I've decided to power something using biofuel from algae. I have everything i need to grow algae but I am not sure how to get from algae to biofuel. Could someone please tell me or suggest a website about how this process works. It would also...

i am learning femlab 3.1...so following the model library given with the set of books.. but i am facing problems with the 3 d modelling.. as in case of fuel cell stack model..the solver is unable to solve even if all the steps are followed according to given instructions.. i have double...

Hi, I would like help to solve the following question. Q: The graph shows the fuel consumption c of a car (measured in gallons per hour) as a function of the speed v of the car. At very low speeds the engine runs inefficiently, so initially c decreases as the speed increases. but at high...

Hello all, I just read an article in POWER magazine for this month (January 2010) that Japan is now operating a MOX-fueled reactor. In this article it is stated that MOX-fuel usage should be about 5% globally this year. Is that statement accurate given the small number of facilites that...

I’m from a group that is current working on the theory of a Hydrogen Economy. Our first area of development is the Hydrogen Highway. We are currently seeking help in the form of freelance / work for hire basically engineer(s) that could aid in design and calculations of internal combustion...

Hi, i am interested to know the major components of the fuel system of a car. I know, these are the major ones: Fuel Tank, Fuel Pump, Fuel Filter, Injector Valve, Return Lines but what i am interested is in the fuel system for (1) a single cylinder engine, (2) no carburetor (instead, i am...

how do we calculate friction power from the graph of total fuel consumption versus brake power?

Imagine a fuel tank that can store fuel at pressure (it can store at pretty high pressure also) without having any component which provides it constant energy e.g. a pump (i.e energy has been previously fed into the system so as to maintain the pressure in the tank regardless of it's fuel...

Hi All.. Scratching my head here! does anyone have a circuit solution to a project I am working on? I have a WWII Fuel gauge out of a B-17 Bomber that will work on 12v DC, if I put 128K ohms inline the gauge reads "full" my Jeep fuel tank is 17 ohms full and 80 ohms empty. trying to create a...

Hey all, This is just a post about some questions I had regarding electrolysis and fuel cells. I know that when electricity is forced through water the water molecules split, and produce hydrogen and oxygen gas. I was wondering how things like the electrode material and how far apart they are...

If we can achieve artificial photosynthesis, might it replace fossil fuels once and for all? Can it also be an effective engine in vehicles?

Hi! I'm working on a problem regarding a jet engine and I actually did solve it but I'm not sure about two things: At some point in the engine, air is heated at constant pressure (with the gas being almost stationary). Of course, this is done by the burning of fuel. But I found the...

Homework Statement Obviously, we can make rockets to go very fast, but what is a reasonable top speed? Assume that a rocket is fired from rest at a space station in deep space, where gravity is negligible. If the rocket ejects gas at a relative speed of 1100 and you want the rocket's...

Hello,everybody! I'm a PhD candidate from xi'an jiaotong university,china. There is an urgent need to make a deep understanding about the microstructure evolution of nuclear fuel materials under irradiation. To make my research more close to the frontiers, your suggestions are welcomed. I've...

Stars eventually die because they use up their fuel right? If all of this fuel was to be used up, would there be no suns?

Seems like a stupid question, to me. But well, I am stupid aswell, so it fits me. Its something I've been thinking about lately. How is the heat/buring of the fuel transformed into mechanical work? I've had some ideas but they are mainly stupid and the loss of energy would be massive in...

I am doing the IB and have an extended essay to write. I intend to write it in Physics. I am thinking of doing something with my PEM fuel cell. However, I've found it hard to constrain the topic into the core of physics as fuel cell theory is mostly electrical chemistry. Any suggestions for a...

I'm working really hard (within my limited knowledge) to figure out the details of using methane as a fuel source. I found https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=224486" and would love to have responded there, but the thread was locked (due to age?). Presently gasoline accounts for...

[b]1. Homework Statement is there any formulae for obtain the volume vapour % V/V. we have a jet fuel a1 10 liters in the closed chamber.the temperature measured inside is 41 degree. we want to know how much vapour it can generate at the particular temperature. we have the following data 1...

When a fuel/air mixture burns it expands. How much does it expand? Is there a formula or known volume increase? After a fuel burns it contracts. How much does it contract? Is there a formula or known volume that it contracts? Gasoline/Air mixture ratio is 15 to 1 for jet engines. A...

is it true that fuel efficiency is better in a 4stroke engine ? since the number of strokes are more in case of a 4stroke engine,the energy required would be more ,right?

How do (PWR) nuclear plants determine how much fuel is left? Do they measure it? I heard they calculate it, but i was wondering if any measurement is done? Thanks.

Hi everyone, new poster here. :) Came across this forum the other day and found quite a few nice topics that were interesting and the people sounded like they knew their stuff ... so i joined. Now the question... I am interested in fuel efficiency as regards the engine capacity. For...

hi, I'm wondering what happens when you burn a liquid fuel in a combustion chamber, eg. suppose you've got octane (C8H18) and you're using air as the comburent, but the equivalence ratio is less than one, so that not all the octane can get used up... Does the 'left over' octane come out of the...

On-Demand Hydrogen System Ready To Roll A catalytic process that produces high-pressure H2 from liquid hydrocarbons as needed improves the prospects for using H2 as a fuel The University of North Dakota's Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) has announced development of a catalytic...

Everyone, I am a Mechanical Engineer working on a design modification (or existing product recommendation) for an Idaho National Laboratory project. What follows is the situation description. At the end is the question. You can skip down to the bottom of the post (which details the...

What's physically stopping all the fuel fusing at once or rather each stage of its fuel cycle fusing into the next quickly? i know there's a lot of it and gravity holds it together but what are these atoms doing while they wait to under go fusion exactly? They are after all under the same...

Why is it classified as a fossil fuel?

Which method of driving results in higher fuel efficiency? a) accelerating with the throttle only slightly open and delaying upshifting until high engine RPM or b) accelerating with the throttle full open (pedal to the metal) but at low engine RPM/upshifting early?

Hello I am sharing the results of my analytical report on "comparison on methods of testing for microbial contamination in jet fuel for private jet aircraft owners" for those who were interested (namely Cyrus) First I would like to talk a little about the scope and the limitations of my...

Is there some place with good information on saltpeter+sugar rocket propellant and it's making? The problem is, there are a lot of places on the internet telling how to do it right, but next to none on how to do it wrong, and I'm not brave enough to follow someone's instructions without...

Hello, I'm doing work in Fuel Cells and am having difficulty with a simple issue; the Nernst Voltage (E) is greater than the Standard Potential (EO) The only electrochemical reaction considered is H2 + 0.5O2 --> H2O The Nernst equation for this reaction is E = EO - (RT / 2F) ln (PH2O / (PH2...

I just read the following article on MSN News http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30028134/wid/11915773?GT1=31036 and I was wondering what kind of perchlorates? The only perchlorate rocket fuel I am famaliar with is ammonium perchlorate used in the solid fuel boosters on the Space Shuttle. That was...

I'm not sure I should be asking this question in Maths, but I think it is a maths question and I don't care about the physics behind it. You are in some sort of simple space craft: It has a mass of 1kg To move, it has one rocket that produces a constant force of 10N in which ever...

Hi everyone, Today a strange thought came into my mind. We know that the mass of an object increases as it gets closer to the speed of light so it is often stated we would require more and more fuel to accelrate it further. However the mass of the fuel would also increase. What could be done...

Hi, as I've stated before I am doing research in the area of jet fuel contamination. However I have shifted my focus to methods of testing. I know many of you work in the aerospace industry. What I need to know if there are any "popular" or "standard" methods you use at your company or perhaps...

Homework Statement The Internal energy of fuel in a combustion chamber increases by 75J due to 130J of heating. How much work can be done by the piston? How far does the piston move while pushing with 5000N of force? Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution Since they gave us...