On Fri, 19 Jul 2002, Brendan Moran wrote:

>>
>> Would waste products from the refining of hydrogen be worse for the
>> environment than petroleum based internal combustion?
>
>I've heard this argument tons of times.  And, what I come back to is
>2 possibilities.
>1. Use electrical power to electrolize water with H2SO4 as a catalyst
>or,
>2. I've been told that there is a large, naturally replenishible
>supply of hydrogen pockets in the earth's crust.

Not. Hydrogen diffuses through anything. If there are any pockets they
have to be well hidden to have stayed there for millions of years. What
really happens is that some oil contains dissolved hydrogen. This turns
out to be a major problem when it is pumped out and the pressure is
removed. There is a good reason for all them eternal flames burning near
extraction wells and other oil and gas industry related equipment.

>I don't know which is better, but it might not be long before people
>are drilling for H2 instead of oil.

God forbid you strike a H2 pocket with any of todays drilling tools,
even a small pocket.

You really have to do the tin can experiment to understand what you are
delaing with. The hydrogen bubbles coming out of the straw and popping in
the flame are almost loud enough to give you ringing ears, and they are
tiny.

Peter

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