So What About the Hindenburg?

When the Hindenburg airship approached its dock in Lakehurst, N.J., on Could 6, 1937, the blimp that held the passenger decks aloft was stuffed with hydrogen. This component, the simplest — and most considerable — within the universe, has one proton with a single electron revolving round it. Hydrogen additionally weighs the least of all the elements atomically. It may well pack quite a punch, creating huge quantities of energy when oxygen and an ignition source are introduced. When the Hindenburg exploded, the world witnessed the power of hydrogen.

Because the Hindenburg was docking which will evening, the blimp’s outer skin was uncovered to a static spark. In a matter of seconds, flames tore throughout the airship, decreasing it to a ball of flames and twisted metallic. Thirty-six folks lost their lives in the disaster [supply: Nationwide Archives]. And as fast because the Hindenburg burned, so, too, did the general public’s opinion of hydrogen. For a lot of decades following the catastrophe, hydrogen was considered with skepticism and even alarm. A «hydrogen concern factor» developed concerning the component [source: Edwards]. It certainly has an amazing amount of promise: Hydrogen emits little or no greenhouse gases (GHGs). Its main byproducts are water vapor and heat. Hydrogen has the best power output by weight of any gasoline [supply: CECA]. And it is plentiful; hydrogen could be produced by quite a lot of sources, from pure gas to water itself.

However the query nonetheless stays: Is hydrogen fuel a safe source of vitality for our vehicles? How can hydrogen even be used as gasoline? There’s a quick primer on the following page. Hydrogen carries the power that’s created when it’s produced. It is much like electricity: We can’t burn electricity (which is an energy carrier), but electricity might be produced by burning vitality sources like pure fuel or petroleum. Then electricity transports this power to different locations, just like the outlets in your house.

Which means that the power carrier has to be given the power to carry, crudely speaking. So we must create vitality to make hydrogen. That is quite a bit simpler than the conventional methodology of obtaining our primary fuel supply, oil. Getting oil requires drilling into reserves, pumping it out of the ground, refining it, and sending it to the gas station. By using hydrogen as a gasoline source, basically we can produce our personal gas and get rid of all of these steps — and perhaps the geopolitical strife that oil causes. Certainly, we can generate hydrogen as a means of energy switch by burning pure fuel or some other carbon-based gas source. In fact, methane reforming (separating hydrogen from hydrocarbons by burning pure fuel) is presently the most viable technique of producing hydrogen fuel. But by means of this technique, we’re proper back at sq. one, as far as greenhouse gasoline (GHG) emissions go. Whereas the strategy of transferring energy from hydrogen can be a clear one, the method of creating hydrogen will nonetheless burn fossil gas and emit GHGs.

Simply as there are cleaner ways to supply electricity (like hydroelectric power), hydrogen will also be created cleanly through wind or photo voltaic power — even by microbes that eat algae and produce hydrogen as a waste product [source: NREL]. Researchers are evaluating these methods as dependable ways of producing hydrogen without burning fossil fuels. And others are determining one of the simplest ways to use this produced hydrogen to energy your automotive.

­Auto engineers have devised hydrogen gas cells. These fuel cells create electricity to power your automotive by way of electrochemical conversion. The pure chemical factor hydrogen is split into its proton and electron, a process which generates electricity. When it mixes with oxygen, the byproduct of the method is water. Since a gas cell cannot produce enough electricity on its own to energy a automobile, cells must be put collectively to create gasoline cell stacks [source: Fuel Financial system.gov]. As soon as you set a number of stacks together, though, your automobile can zoom alongside.

A big concern remains, nevertheless: storing the hydrogen aboard your vehicle. Some strategies are already in use. Hydrogen could also be saved within the type of a highly pressurized fuel or a particularly cold liquid, like cryogenic hydrogen. This works for storing hydrogen on the fuel pumps, however it isn’t sensible for carrying round fuel in your automotive. Cryogenic hydrogen liquid would require an additional onboard system to keep the gas cold. This is able to add weight, which impacts the car’s power effectivity.

Researchers are nonetheless investigating the optimum methods to store and exploit hydrogen as a gasoline source. Part of that research includes dispelling the public’s fears of hydrogen gas. Science might be able to crack the hydrogen gas puzzle, but when drivers still envision themselves being flash-burned alive in a ball of white-hot flame after a fender bender, then who would buy a hydrogen-fueled car anyway? Maybe the following page will assuage your worries. Carbon-based mostly fuels are likely to spread as liquids (as you effectively know if you have ever spilled gasoline on yourself at the pump). When it burns, typical gasoline produces scorching ash, creating radiant heat. This isn’t the case with hydrogen. In its pure form, hydrogen burns no carbon and produces no scorching ash and very little radiant heat [supply: RMI]. What’s extra, when hydrogen leaks, it ascends rapidly into the ambiance, so it has much less time to burn [supply: Princeton].

So what concerning the Hindenburg? Both proponents and opponents of hydrogen gas have latched onto the ill-fated blimp of their debate. While opponents level to it as a cautionary tale, proponents view it as exoneration for hydrogen. To replicate sunlight, the pores and skin of Hindenburg was covered in this powder, a form equal to rocket fuel [source: RMI]. And the cotton fabric that made up the blimp’s pores and skin was waterproofed with extremely flammable acetate [source: ABC]. Hydrogen proponents also level out that the flames in the Hindenburg disaster burned upward reasonably than out because the element is so lightweight. This left the passengers in the service beneath comparatively unmolested by the flames. Thirty-five of the 36 Hindenburg deaths have been the result of passengers leaping from the airship; all of those who remained aboard survived [supply: RMI].

The challenge presented by hydrogen gasoline storage is to provide you with methods to create storage tanks that won’t prove to be a cautionary tale in opposition to hydrogen for future generations. In different words, what would make one of the best storage tank to stop hydrogen from exploding in a automobile accident?

Steel tanks are one risk. They’re sturdy sufficient to serve as dependable carriers for hydrogen fuel in automobiles. If an accident does occur, a steel tank will possible be able to withstand an impact without suffering a puncture or rupture. One drawback with steel, nevertheless, is that hydrogen is so lightweight and therefore much less dense than gasoline. Any tank that holds pressurized hydrogen gasoline would have to be much greater than the conventional gasoline tank on your automotive. A steel tank can be fairly heavy and cut back power effectivity.

Composite supplies seem to supply much more promise than steel. Tanks product of polyethylene are lightweight, might be shaped to fit a automobile and are designed to powder — absorb the power of an affect, 西武 ライオンズ FA lowering the tank to dust and ostensibly releasing the hydrogen safely into the environment [source: Princeton].

Hydrogen might ultimately be stored in supplies that may hold the ingredient and launch it when wanted. Some sorts of metallic, like metal hydride, can trap hydrogen molecules inside their compositional structure. Right here, the hydrogen is stored safely and launched when the steel is heated. What makes this technology much more appealing is that the heat needed for the discharge of hydrogen molecules from their metal tanks could come from the waste heat produced by a hydrogen gas cell [source: DOE].

It would not seem the «hydrogen concern issue» is doing much to dissuade continued research into its viability as a fuel supply. And if the world actually is running out of oil, we might have to put apart these fears as soon as and for all.

For extra data on hydrogen gas and other related topics, visit the next page.S. DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Residence Page

Rocky Mountain Institute

Hindenburg Catastrophe Radio Broadcast at National ArchivesSources

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Kruszelnicki, Karl S. «Hindenburg and hydrogen.» Australian Broadcasting Company. 2004. http://www.abc.web.au/science/k2/moments/s1052864.htm

Murphy, Christian. «Differentiating energy sources and carriers.» Shopper Energy Council of America. July 30, 2003. http://www.cecarf.org/Packages/Fuels/SourcesCarriers.html

«Fuel cell autos.» California Energy Fee. http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/transportation/fuelcell/index.html

«Gasoline storage.» Princton College. http://www.princeton.edu/~chm333/2002/spring/FuelCells/H_storage.shtml

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«Hydrogen info.» Shopper Energy Council of America. 2003. http://www.cecarf.org/Programs/Fuels/Fuelfacts/HydrogenFacts.html

«Hydrogen production and delivery.» National Renewable Vitality Laboratory. June 1, 2007. http://www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/proj_manufacturing_delivery.html

«Is hydrogen dangerous?» Rocky Mountain Institute. http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid205.php

«Metal hydrides.» U.S. Department of Power. November 6, 2006. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/storage/steel_hydrides.html

«Scenes from hell: Herb Morrison — Hindenburg disaster, 1937.» Nationwide Archives. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?part=5