Q:how to build hydrogen fuel cells

There isn't one as such. Even the experts can't build one thats cost effective and probably never will for cars so not likely an ammature could. I know as I've tried to get one for yrs for my EV to turn it into a hybrid. Besides their high cost they use H2 which is a very ineff fuel taking twice the energy to make it as you get out of it. So even if a fuel cell was 50% eff, with the H2 being 50% eff only gives 25% eff which a car engine can do!! Small ones, 1-5 kw, for combined home heating, electric power where the waste heat is used to make close to 100% eff is about the only practical use for them maybe.

Q:catamaran which will weigh under 1000 pounds and have narrow 15 inch hulls. The hulls were designed for us by a world class hull designer. Our first prototype a with 21 foot hulls did over 50 mpg estimated economy. What outboard motors would you recommend for this boat. Desire light, fuel efficient and able to control from the console?

MPG is not really an applicable fuel rate measurement with a boat. Most will more likely understand economy in terms of litres per hour @ so many RPM and such and such a hull speed. There are planing hulls of around 20' fitted with a twin cylinder diesel of 20 odd HP that achieve economy around 2 ltrs per hour at a cruise of 16 knots - full speed 20 knots. The particular one I am thinking of is in the latest Wooden Boat magazine. 50 mpg is not a number that makes much sense with a boat unless you know what revs and what speed you are getting that at. It sounds wonderful, but as boats are used in a radically dynamic medium the number will be considered only achievable in perfect conditions. In practice boats can return fuel use figures as low as one third of optimum when the weather is bad. Yanmar no longer make the outboard diesels I am told, or they would be a very interesting choice for ultimate economy - heavy though. Yamaha make a very good product in the fourstrokes, but it must be said that all of the big manufacturers make a good product, with all the big names there really isn't a bad product as such. The smaller E-TEC Evinrudes - say the 50 HP is supposed to get about four times the economy at idle of the equivalent Yammie 50 4 st - I find that astonishing if true, but never having owned an E-TEC I can't say if that claim is real. I note that most commercial and govt. outboards are Yamaha. If I went back to commercial fishing Yamaha would be my first choice, but I would look at the E-TECs closely. There is a local charter operator who swears by his E-TECs, once the early teething troubles got sorted anyway. He has re-engined with the latest E-TECs and that says a fair bit to me. You might consider the smallest diesel saildrives - or even a single one in a central pod - if economy is the absolute goal. Sounds like an interesting project.

Q:i am not sure now much energy this fuel cell can generate. how would we convert the heat generated to heat water. also how do we determine the price for hydrogen. and would it be safe to generate it through electrolysis.thank you in advance.

Is it feasible Nope. Why not just use the fuel that you were going to use to charge the battery or produce the hydrogen to heat the house directly?

Q:I live in alaska and am afraid when the cold hits my fuel cell (witch saves MPG) will freeze and not workare their any Solutions??Thank you all

heater

Q:Does anyone know?The mass of a fuel cell is constant, but the mass of reactant and product changes during operation of the cell. Explain why this is true. Thank you! (31)

A fuel cell is closed, so the Law of the Conservation of Matter applies. The mass can't change unless something leaves or enters into the fuel cell, which doesn't happen. All sorts of reactions might or might not happen, but as long at the system is closed the total mass stays the same.

Q:I know an old man that moved where i live and says he helped a guy a couple years ago with a cell that had problems bc it was draining the battery and in a two year time they figured out how to make it work and now gets over 100 miles per gallon of water, its hard to believe yes but he says he can help us and get it going, hes smart and knows his **** but all over the net they say its not possible bc of physics and i think with the electronics we have today its possible.

You will have better results extracting energy from the tooth fairy. Separating the hydrogen from the oxygen in water requires more energy than you will get out of burning the hydrogen. The results he claims to have achieved violate the principles of the conservation of energy.

Q:Help pleaseSomeday, cars may be powered by clean H2/O2 fuel cells and electric motors. Under standard conditions, such a fuel cell can develop 1.229 volts. If the oxygen is obtained from air (at P0.21 bar), what pressure of H2 would be required to develop 1.214 volts from the cell at 25 C?

This is actually electrochemistry, and is a pretty weird question. First use the Nernst equation. EcellE*cell-0.0592/n*logQ; after plugging in the numbers you have listed above and using 4 as n (the number of electrons), you get: 1.2141.229-0.0148*log(1/x^2*0.21); you may want to check your numbers and reverse the Ecell values to get a positive result. From this point, just solve for x.

Q:Are they going to start selling hydrogen fuel cell cars any time soon?I just saw a commercial for a hydgrogen car on tv, so it just got me thinking.

Honda is leasing the FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell car for $600/month (super expensive), but only a few hundred and only in southern California where there are a few hydrogen fueling stations. Hydrogen fuel cell cars won't be widespread for at least a few decades and possibly never, for reasons described in the link below.

Q:I plan to add a hydrogen fuel cell in my smart car and i want to know if it would be safer to run a secondary fuel line using a fuel tee and running a hose from the hydrogen fuel cell output straight to the tee input. Or run a small hollow needle right into the air intake from the hydroxy fuel cell.

I don't know why you would want to void your warranty with something that can't and won't work. The whole add hydrogen to your engine is a CON and yes I can prove it. But to answer your question, with the tiny amount of hydrogen that you'll be adding the needle would be the safest way and it would be the easiest one to undo.

Q:I am not scientifically inclined so much as some of you geniuses out there (that's possibly not saying much), so I am curious to know what the viability of hydrogen fuel cell technology is. My state, New York, has actually purchased a model that it has on display and has driven for demonstrations. So, if there are hydrogen vehicles that have worked, what is the obstacle? Is it fuel delivery? the cost of storing hydrogen fuel? Dangers inherent in hydrogen? I think hydrogen could be a great way to get emissions down (although maybe not for decades) and could maybe boost our flagging economy for the future. Any thoughts.

It's doing just what the oil companies want which is taking our minds off of serious fixes like plug-in hybrids and battery cars. They are not going to change the infrastructure of the U.S. or the world to hydrogen until they get all the easy oil out of the ground. They also are not going to go to hydrogen if they think you can make it at home or from water. How can they make money that way. Plus fuel cells are complicated and need to stay clean to work properly. The Fuel cell buses that they are testing in California already fouled there fuel cells in 17,000 miles of use. When all is said and done fuel cells act like a battery. We can upgrade batteries to be answer to our needs if we can keep the oil companies from buying up the new technologies on batteries and throwing them under the rug and encouraging car companies to use them in battery cars and plug-in hybrids. Batteries can be charged with any kind of generator so any future clean developments can be applied to electricity. Plus battery tech can be used now to reduce oil dependency with-in a year or two which would have a immediate effect on the economy and oil prices. Don't let these companies trick us into hydrogen to soon. They just want us to drag our feet while they make the big money on oil. Hydrogen will come when it's time has come and if we go to batteries 1st and break the monopoly on oil then hydrogen will come cheap. Otherwise it will come as a new set of handcuffs.