4 ms·
Not a fuel cell in the electrochemical sense, but one to store additional gasoline for extending the car's range.
by Stubb 7y ago
Not a fuel cell in the electrochemical sense, but one to store additional gasoline for extending the car's range.
- ncmncm 7y agoI see: "Not a fuel cell", full stop.
- flyingfences 7y ago"Fuel cell" is the technical term for "gas tank" used in motorsports; it's literally a cell that holds fuel. In the techie/green community, the term has come to be used as a shorthand for "hydrogen fuel cell" but that's a more recent development.
- ncmncm 7y agoApollo missions used hydrogen-fueled fuel cells for primary mission power, 50+ years ago. The fuel cell is a catalytic converter of chemical to electrical energy. The hydrogen for it comes from what is called -- even in an interplanetary spacecraft -- a tank.
- flyingfences 7y agoI'm not saying that hydrogen fuel cells are a new technology, I'm saying that the use of the shorthand "fuel cell" to refer to them by default is a comparatively recent development limited to certain circles.
- ncmncm 7y agoOriginally, only hydrogen fuel cells existed. If you had a fuel cell, it was by definition a hydrogen fuel cell, no qualification needed. Later people came up with other kinds that could catalyze more complex molecules. Calling an auxiliary gas tank a fuel cell has to have originated as some kind of cheesy marketing ploy, to make it sound like a more sophisticated thing than a gas can with baffles, and get more money for it.
- gpderetta 7y agoYes, also hydrogen fuel cells are not the only kind (although it is the most common). They can also be fueled by hydrocarbons.
- sgfdsagfsagf 7y agoFrom Wikitionary: Cell. From Latin cella (“chamber, small room, compartment”) biological cell? chamber with biological goop jail cell? chamber with convict inside it fuel cell? chamber with fuel in it electrochemical cell? chamber with electrodes and an electrolyte in it fuel cell (again)? What do we name an electrochemical cell whose reactants are fluids? fuel cell!
- csours 7y agoFuel Cell is common terminology in racing for a liquid fuel tank.
- steverb 7y agoIn automotive parlance it is fuel cell... ie a cell to hold fuel. That's just what they're called.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- sgfdsagfsagf 7y agoI research fuel cells - the electrochemical ones. These are fuel cells, full stop. Definitions change according to the topic of the conversation. In this context the "cell" containing fuel is a very highly engineered containment cell to ensure fuel isn't spilled or explodes in case of a high energy collision.