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Isn't driving on a tank full of hydrogen like super dangerous?
by Keyframe 5y ago
Isn't driving on a tank full of hydrogen like super dangerous?
- Vvector 5y agoCompared to a tank full of gasoline?
- MengerSponge 5y agoYes. Gasoline has a relatively narrow ignition range, it has much less rigorous sealing requirements, and it burns with a flame that's visible in daylight. The problem is that we can't easily make gasoline with solar panels and water.
- adrian_b 5y agoActually it is possible to make gasoline with solar panels, water and carbon dioxide from the air. Making synthetic gasoline was already possible before WWII and that was used a lot by Germany. It is true that making hydrogen is easier, because making gasoline requires additional steps and equipment, but due to the large disadvantages of storing and handling hydrogen, making gasoline is nonetheless preferable and it does not require any infrastructure change. While hydrogen is preferred currently for room-temperature fuel cells, for the moment that seems like a dead end, because the current catalysts are much too expensive. High-temperature fuel cells can use gasoline, so hydrogen no longer has advantages. Even if one would not choose gasoline, there are still other much better ways to chemically store solar energy than hydrogen, e.g. ammonia or methanol.
- SigmundA 5y agoOr just charge a battery with the solar panels at much greater efficiency.
- adrian_b 5y agoFor short-term storage a rechargeable battery is certainly preferable. For long-term storage, the battery auto-discharges, so the efficiency drops quickly with the storage time, until it becomes much less than for storing the energy by synthesizing some appropriate chemical compound. For storing solar energy, both short-term storage (e.g. for a day or a week), like rechargeable batteries, and long-term storage (e.g. for a year or more), like synthetic gasoline, are needed.
- SigmundA 5y agoLithium self discharges at 1-2% per month, not an issue in most circumstances, not sure where it would be an issue, if it was just have a maintaining solar panel nearby.
- MengerSponge 5y agoWasn't Germany's synthetic gasoline derived from coal? Fun fact: methanol has a similar "invisible fire" risk, which is the origin of the "Don't let the invisible fire burn my friend" joke in Talladega Nights.
- mda 5y agoDriving a car tank full of gasoline or thousands of lithium batteries is also dangerous, there are ways to reduce risk.
- Keyframe 5y agoThere's dangerous and then there's super dangerous!
- throwaway316943 5y agoI shouldn’t think it’s much more dangerous than other pressurized flammable gases. Those pressure vessels are designed for safety contrary to what you see in movies. I’d be about as concerned as I am driving around with a tank of highly flammable gasoline.
- makomk 5y agoHydrogen forms explosive mixtures with air at a much wider range of concentrations than typical hydrocarbons and has a nasty tendency to permeate straight through a lot of materials.
- throwaway316943 5y agoIt’s lighter than air though so it won’t pool in low areas and if a pressure vessel won’t contain it it probably diffuses through car interiors / dry wall and vapor barrier pretty quickly. What’s the rate at which it escapes? Probably pretty slow.
- giantg2 5y agoIt can be very safe if using hydride tanks. I think there are some international arms controls related to hydrogen bombs that makes hydride tanks difficult to produce.
- louthy 5y agoI'd be much more concerned about Lithium batteries, when they're exposed to air, they reeeeally go up fast.
- cesarb 5y agoProbably just as dangerous as driving with a tank of pressurized natural gas, which is already very common (for instance, where I live, nearly all taxis are converted to run on pressurized natural gas, since it's cheaper than gasoline).
- agumonkey 5y agoTime to watch some of these https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hydrogen+tank+blow https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hydrogen+tank+b... (not joking, it's useful to see worst case scenarios)