Water fuel cell
Template:Perpetual motion machine
The water fuel cell is a device invented by American Stanley Meyer, which he claimed could convert water into its component elements, hydrogen and oxygen, using less energy than can be obtained by the subsequent combustion of those elements, a process that results the reconstitution of the water molecules. Thus, if the device operated as claimed, the combustion cycle would start and end in the same state while extracting usable energy, thereby violating both the first and second laws of thermodynamics, allowing operation as a perpetual motion machine. Meyer's claims about the Water Fuel Cell and the car that it powered were found to be fraudulent by an Ohio court in 1996.[1]
Nomenclature
Meyer named his device the "water fuel cell" but it is not a true fuel cell; it should correctly be termed an "electrolytic cell", as it is claimed to produce hydrogen from water and not the other way around.[2]
Meyer's water-fueled car
A news report by Action 6 News claims to demonstrate Stanley Meyer's water fuel cell powering a dune buggy car. [3] Meyer claimed that he could run a 1.6 liter Volkswagen dune buggy on water instead of gasoline.[1] He replaced the spark plugs with "injectors" to spray a fine mist of water into the engine cylinders, which he claimed were subjected to an electrical resonance. The fuel cell would split the water mist into hydrogen and oxygen gas, which would then be combusted back into water vapor in a conventional internal combustion engine to produce net energy.[1]
Meyer demonstrated his vehicle for a station Action 6 News and estimated that only 22 US gallons (83 liters) of water were required to travel from Los Angeles to New York.[3]
In an article about claims of burning water, Philip Ball wrote:[4]
"It's not easy to establish how Meyer's car was meant to work, except that it involved a fuel cell that was able to split water using less energy than was released by recombination of the elements."
Lawsuit
In 1996, inventor Stanley Meyer was sued by investors to whom he had sold dealerships, offering the right to do business in Water Fuel Cell technology. According to The Times, Meyer claimed in court that his invention "opened the way for a car which would 'run on water', powered simply by a car battery." The car would even run perpetually without fuel since the energy needed to continue the "fracturing" was low enough for the engine's dynamo to recharge the car's battery. His car was due to be examined by the expert witness Michael Laughton, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Queen Mary, University of London and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. However, Meyer made what Professor Laughton considered a "lame excuse" on the days of examination and did not allow the test to proceed. The Water Fuel Cell, on the other hand, was examined by three expert witnesses in court who found that there "was nothing revolutionary about the cell at all and that it was simply using conventional electrolysis".[1]
On the basis of the evidence the court found Meyer guilty of "gross and egregious fraud" and ordered to repay the investors their $25,000.[1]
Death
Stanley Meyer died on 21 March 1998 at the age of 57 after eating at a restaurant. An autopsy report by Franklin County, Ohio coroner William R. Adrion concluded that Meyer, who suffered from high blood pressure, had died of a cerebral aneurysm.[5] Conspiracy theories persist, however, that he was poisoned, and that oil companies and the United States government were involved in his death.[6][7] It is argued that this was done to suppress the technology, despite the fact that complete plans remain available both online[8] and in Meyer's patent. To date, no one has used them to demonstrate a working prototype.
Patents
- U.S. patent 5,149,407: Process and apparatus for the production of fuel gas and the enhanced release of thermal energy from such gas
- U.S. patent 4,936,961: Method for the production of a fuel gas
- U.S. patent 4,826,581: Controlled process for the production of thermal energy from gases and apparatus useful therefore
- U.S. patent 4,798,661: Gas generator voltage control circuit
- U.S. patent 4,613,779: Electrical pulse generator
- U.S. patent 4,613,304: Gas electrical hydrogen generator
- U.S. patent 4,465,455: Start-up/shut-down for a hydrogen gas burner
- U.S. patent 4,421,474: Hydrogen gas burner
- U.S. patent 4,389,981: Hydrogen gas injector system for internal combustion engine
See also
- Fuel cell
- Electrolysis
- Pseudoscience
- Water fuelled car
- Oxyhydrogen
- John Kanzius
- Zero-point energy
- Cold Fusion
- Gasoline pill
References
- ^ a b c d e Edwards, Tony (1996-12-01). "End of road for car that ran on Water". The Sunday Times. Times Newspapers Limited. p. Features 12. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
- ^ The "The Columbia Encyclopedia", Columbia University Press 2004 defines fuel cell as an "Electric cell in which the chemical energy from the oxidation of a gas fuel is converted directly to electrical energy in a continuous process"; and electrolysis as "Passage of an electric current through a conducting solution or molten salt that is decomposed in the process.".
- ^ a b Robinson, Ralph (Reporter), Tom Ryan (News caster) and Gayd Hogan (News caster) "Unknown Episode." Action 6 News. Unknown Network. Station call sign: WSYX. Filmed in Groveport. Length: 1 Minute 45 seconds. Republished by Annaheim, Kurt W. "Media Page - See, Hear and Discover Free Electricity." Last updated 7 May 2008. Befreetech.Com. Accessed 23 June 2008.
- ^ Ball, Philip (September 14, 2007). "Burning water and other myths". Nature News. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Narciso, Dean (July 8, 2007). "The Car that Ran on Water". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Water Powered Car report on Meyer's death". Retrieved 2008-03-24. states (as of January 2007):
- "It was a shame to hear that he was poisoned .... He died in the parking lot of a restaurant in his home town of Grove City, Ohio. Sharks came a week later and stole the dune buggy and all of his experimental equipment, according to his brother, Steve. Stan said while he was alive, that he was threatened many times and would not sell out to Arab Oil Corp."
- ^ Ball, Philip (September 14, 2007). "Burning water and other myths". Nature News. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
He died in 1998 after eating at a restaurant; the coroner diagnosed an aneurysm, but the conspiracy web still suspects he was poisoned.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Stan Meyer's Files".
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