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Is hydrogen really that dangerous anymore? I mean, we use bikes that have highly flammable fuel right under your body, surely it's possible to create some safet
by jakeonthemove 14y ago
Is hydrogen really that dangerous anymore? I mean, we use bikes that have highly flammable fuel right under your body, surely it's possible to create some safety measures to prevent the hydrogen from catching fire.
Not to mention that Hindenburg wasn't that much of a disaster - of 97 people, 61 survived, which is not bad at all for an airship the size of three 747's (or six if you don't include the wingspan) chockfull of hydrogen.
- sliverstorm 14y agoThe ignition point of magnesium is fairly high, and its ability to act as a heat spreader further reduces the risk. To put it simply, you can set off magnesium with a blowtorch. You can set off hydrogen with a match.
- jakeonthemove 14y agoI'm sorry, I don't understand - I was talking about the gas in the tank on motorcycles (which also ignites from a match and it's pretty damn explosive). Also, hydrogen does not ignite without air, just like gasoline.
- sliverstorm 14y agoHah! My mistake. Well, thing is with gasoline, is it isn't actually all that explosive in pure liquid form. Go take a pan with a cup of the stuff outside, light it with a match. No, seriously! It will just sit there and burn, slowly and usually with a lot of soot. Gasoline vapor is a completely different story, and the reason you think of gasoline as explosive. But, this doesn't generally prove to be a problem, in part because motorcycles (and just about every type of vehicle) have pressure vents so that the tank doesn't become dangerously pressurized.