WHY DO WE NEED FUEL??
Why, since the start of the age of mechanical propulsion, do we continue to have to carry all that fuel around with us on every type of powered vehicle that we use? And manufacture and transport it to where we need to use it? While we are spending time (and money) pursuing alternative fuels to get away from our “addiction to oil”, why aren’t we also looking at how to create propulsion without having to carry the fuel around with us? Think of how efficient it was (and still is) for sailors to use wind power. Why can’t we use other natural resources available almost everywhere to power our vehicles?
So, beyond building bigger and faster sailboats, the next logical step would be to find alternatives for ground transportation. The development of fuel cells and batteries can help us get there. With a little “priming” and routine maintenance, why can’t we build a power system that is almost self-sufficient and doesn’t require carrying a lot of fuel around (and refilling it frequently). A fuel cell is fed with hydrogen to create energy and discharges water. Since water is mostly hydrogen, why can’t we find an efficient way to derive the hydrogen from water and create something approaching a closed loop system? There are some “brute force” approaches, such as hydrolysis and reverse osmosis, but perhaps there are advances that can be made to make them (or some alternative approach) more energy efficient – and cost effective. Such a system could be tied to a highly efficient rechargeable battery and electric motor drive system. Imagine charging the system initially (batteries and water) and then recharging it at routine maintenance intervals – perhaps only every 5000 miles – like you have to with existing internal combustion engines. Imagine no more high gasoline prices – or gas stations!
The next challenge might be propulsion for flight. Aircraft carry and use a lot of fuel, which is also a major part of the load they have to carry – very expensive and inefficient. How about not having to carry any fuel? No – not gliders! Since we are fortunate to have a rich atmosphere on Earth, how about using it? The air around us contains a lot of compounds that could potential be used to create fuel. Air is mostly Nitrogen and Oxygen. By themselves, we probably can’t make a useable fuel, but with some other additional chemicals that are also in the air, we might be able to make something that could serve as a fuel. For example, racing fuel – called “Nitro” – is nitro methane that, in addition to Nitrogen and Oxygen, is also comprised of carbon and hydrogen, which are also present in the air (but at much lower concentrations). So, how about creating a system that converts air to a fuel like nitro methane that can be burned in a jet engine? Perhaps the system can be “charged-up” prior to flight to take off and then sustain itself in flight by converting air intake to fuel “on-the-fly”. And the combustion by-products would probably be less harmful to the atmosphere than the fossil fuels we use today.
A future challenge is space flight. It now takes a lot of fuel to get a rocket into space. And, if we want to escape the Earth’s gravitational force to reach the moon, other planets or their satellites, we would have to take fuel with us – not very practical. So the question is whether there is a potential source of “fuel” available to use for propulsion in space. Perhaps to get into space in the first place, we can use some variation of the “fuel-less” aircraft discussed above, using the Earth’s atmosphere as a source of fuel compounds. But once in space, we have no atmosphere to draw from. But we also have very little gravity to contend with, so we do not need as much of a “brute force” approach to propulsion. So what is in space that we can use? There are actually quite a few sources of energy out there – if we can find some way to capture and use them? Of course, in this solar system, we have sunlight. So, at least at close proximities to the Sun, we can use solar power for onboard energy and perhaps some form of propulsion. There are also cosmic, gamma and X-rays throughout space. Perhaps there is some way of capturing their energy. And then, there is always gravity. We already use the gravity of planets, moons and the Sun to “slingshot” space vehicles towards far away destinations. Perhaps some combination of these sources could be used to propel at least small space vehicles. It would also be nice if we could finally figure out how gravity works. Then we might be able to harness an opposite force (“anti-gravity”) – just like in electro-magnetism. That might even be a good (or ultimately better) solution for propulsion on Earth! Then there is also that “stuff” that scientists think makes up most of the universe. Not regular matter that we see is the stars, but “dark matter” and perhaps the corresponding “dark energy” that makes the universe work. If that stuff is really everywhere, why not harness it in some way to power space vehicles? There is no need to carry a lot of fuel with you if it is everywhere around you!
Of course, none of this will be easy – but why aren’t some smart scientists and engineers working on some of these kinds of ideas? Someday, people will think how primitive post industrial man was using expensive and harmful fuels for propulsion.
Think about it!
All Rights Reserved © 2011 Henry P. Mitchell