"In the year 2525" or "Where's my flying car?"

dolluper

Captain
Joined
Jul 19, 2004
Messages
3,904
Re: "In the year 2525" or "Where's my flying car?"

Hey Lakelivin your links show up black nothing there try again I'm interested in what the oil companies are saying they don't like this old tech coming to life[1800's]looseing their market share
 

lakelivin

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Aug 19, 2004
Messages
1,172
Re: "In the year 2525" or "Where's my flying car?"

dolluper:<br /><br />I just checked the links above and they worked for me. One took a few seconds to load, and the screen was black until it did.<br /><br />I guess it's possible the article might be influenced by oil interests, but the experts the author quotes are people like Geoffrey Ballard, founder of Ballard fuel cells, JoAnn Milliken, chief engineer of the Dept. of Energy's Office of Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and Infrastructure Technologies, various university professors, etc. <br /><br />Let me know if you still can't get the links to work. If really interested, both articles I linked to came out of the Jan. 2005 issue of Popular Science.
 

kenimpzoom

Rear Admiral
Joined
Jul 13, 2002
Messages
4,807
Re: "In the year 2525" or "Where's my flying car?"

Why fly, wind resistance and economy is terrible.<br /><br />And can you imagine trying to teach the wife how to fly that thing? :eek: <br /><br />If they automate cars, then we can go faster with less accidents.<br /><br />Ken
 

MrBill

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 4, 2002
Messages
710
Re: "In the year 2525" or "Where's my flying car?"

Willy: The local police accused me of having a flying car...said I flew through a stop sign last week.<br /><br />Long term predictions about inventions just have too many variables to predict accurately. Besides, advances in technology don't follow a linear path, they go in whatever direction the finding progresses...whether it's the Internet, personal computers, CD's, DVD's, etc.<br /><br />Now, where is all the hydrogen going to come from to support the use of fuel cells replacing every thing from gasoline to electricity...from the atmosphere?? What will depleting hydrogen from the atmosphere at that rate do after 5, 10, 20 or more years? If we needed the number of BTU's that are currently being used, and depended soley on hydrogen, we'd deplete the atmosphere of it in less time than we have fossil fuels.
 

qaztwo

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 26, 2004
Messages
384
Re: "In the year 2525" or "Where's my flying car?"

I know I don't want an atmosphere full of hydrogen, so take all you want out of it. I believe water is the primary source for hydrogen, and that is where the problem lies. In the US petroleum is used to generate the electricity to separate the H and O making it less efficient then just running gas.
 

roscoe

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Oct 30, 2002
Messages
21,753
Re: "In the year 2525" or "Where's my flying car?"

Different sources are being used, one of which is borax. <br /><br />It isn't going to work for the masses (big cities), but I believe in the sticks, you could use wind to separate the hydrogen, then store it and pump it into either your auto, or a fuel cell to power your home, and a dozen neighbors.
 

lakelivin

Lieutenant Junior Grade
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Aug 19, 2004
Messages
1,172
Re: "In the year 2525" or "Where's my flying car?"

That Pop Sci article summed it up like this:<br /><br />"...vast resevoirs of hydrogen don't exist here on Earth. Instead, hydrogen atome are bound up in molecules with other elements, and we must expend energy to extract the hydrogen so it can be used in fuel cells. We'll never get more energy out of hydrogen than we put into it." <br /><br />"Hydrogen is a currency, not a primary energy source. It's a means of geting energy from where you created it to where you need it."<br /><br />To me, seems like the potential may be in using hydrogen in conjunction with renewable energy sources as a means of making their output more practical for use.
 

tomatolord

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 1, 2004
Messages
548
Re: "In the year 2525" or "Where's my flying car?"

OK - just put 2 and 2 together in another article I read...<br /><br />Hydrogen cars will be very far off into the future. Gasoline has 26,000 (or 260,000 i dont remember) times the amount of energy per gallon than hydrogen, to go 300 miles on a "tank" of hydrogen would require<br /><br />1 - if gaseous a tank that would take up all of the trunk and the rear seat<br /><br />2 - if liquid hydrogen, you would have to use the car everyday as the hydrogen would boil away if not used within a day.<br /><br />Looks like fuel cells will be 1st in the home.<br /><br />Although the article did say a hydrogen car could also run an entire house as it takes a lot more energy to move a car around than an average house uses.<br /><br />So when you are away from home you use batteries to keep the juice going, but when you get home just plug in your car!!
 

qaztwo

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 26, 2004
Messages
384
Re: "In the year 2525" or "Where's my flying car?"

Hydrogen 61,000 btu's x 26,000 = 1,586,000,000 btu's gas. I'll take a gallon of that please.
 

SCO

Lieutenant
Joined
Aug 19, 2001
Messages
1,463
Re: "In the year 2525" or "Where's my flying car?"

I want to see Diet Smiths magnetic flying vehicle invented. We've got the wrist radio technology. What was that teen girls name, Moonbeam ??. Edit Moon Maid. Hada baby too, moon beam, moon baby...don't recall, and no, it doesn't matter!!<br /><br />BTY, for those that are completely baffled, think **** Tracy. edit, ha ha, I mean detective Tracy.<br /><br />The BD-5 is right, but I don't think it was a rutan. Maybe I learned bd5 prior to learning of rutan so didn't make the association. The BD5 came in pusher prop and pusher jet. There used to be one on a signpost in Houston somewhere near Hobby airport. I think also that the author of Johnathan Livingston Seagull got a BD5 to do that seagull thang.<br /><br />edit found bd-5 link:<br /> http://www.bd5.com/bdbach.htm
 
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