4 ms·

Any chemical bond is a potential source of energy. Plenty of sources of potential energy too able to be converted to work.

• saulpw 3mo ago
  That's the source, but for chemical reactions you also need a sink. For instance gasoline is not usable as an energy source without an oxidant. Take away the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere (an asteroid has no atmosphere at all) and now gasoline has no potential energy available. Asteroids have no available oxidants (regolith was already fully oxidized long ago).
  • asdff 3mo ago
    If it has been oxidized, there's your oxygen source.
    • saulpw 3mo ago
      It takes more energy to liberate the oxygen than you could ever get from the fuel. You don't need oxygen atoms, you need the oxidant.
• pfortuny 3mo ago
  As long as you can get an exogenous reaction from it, which is not guaranteed at all.