The Science Behind Hydrogen Hybrid Cars- The Electrolysis Of Water:

The term "hybrid" is frequently used to illustrate a car, sports utility vehicle (SUV), truck or bus that has a conventional internal combustion engine, which functions on gasoline or diesel fuel as well as an electrical system to facilitate the deceleration and acceleration of the vehicle.

A Hydrogen Hybrid Car is a vehicle that consumes Hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power. A hybrid vehicle combines a conventional propulsion system with a rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) to acquire better fuel economy than a typical vehicle. Hydrogen in its natural state does not performs as a fuel source because un- oxidised Hydrogen does not exist in nature. It has to be attained by other means. In this way, the power plants of such vehicles change the chemical energy of hydrogen to mechanical energy through electrolysis of water.

The concept of electrolysis is dated back to 1789 when Jan Rudolph Deiman and Adriaan Paets van Troostwijk used an electrostatic machine to generate electricity and discharged it into gold electrodes placed in a Leyden jar filled with water. Then in 1800, Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile, and afterward William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle used that for the first time for electrolysis of water. Subsequently Zénobe Gramme invented the Gramme Machine in 1869, which became an efficient way to generate Hydrogen through the electrolysis of water.

The electrolysis of water in Hydrogen Hybrid Cars happens when an electric current is passed through the water resulting the water (H2O) to break down into its two major components; namely Oxygen (O2) and Hydrogen gas (H2). Moreover, in industries this method is not entertained for Hydrogen formation since it is inexpensive to obtain it through fossil fuels.

In Hydrogen Hybrid Cars, this operates by connecting two or more electrodes/plates to an electrical power source. These electrodes or plates are most of the times made of some metal like aluminum or stainless steel and are immersed in water, which acts as an electrolyte. In this process, the water would be decomposed.

If all the connections are made accurately, then Hydrogen gas would be generated at the cathode, which is a negatively charged electrode, and oxygen will form on the positively charged electrode referred as anode. As in the composition of water, the ratio of Hydrogen to Oxygen is 2 to 1.

Thus, there would be two Hydrogen molecules produced for every single molecule of oxygen. Thus, the amount of Hydrogen produced would be twice than the amount of Oxygen made in this process. Both these elements are also in turn in proportion to the electrical charge running through the water.

It consumes a lot of energy to electrolyse pure water so instead of it, seawater is used or some other impurities are added to water to lower the energy accumulation to make these Hydrogen Hybrid Cars. Various catalysts are also used at times to hasten the process of electrolysis in these cars.

Hydrogen Hybrid cars protect the environment. These hybrid cars can also aid the shallow breathing economy. So in future, these cars have a great scope. All the significant car companies are presently working on betterment in this hybrid car technology.

Article Source: http://www.essentialrelease.com

Danny Green is a technology expert. Check Lexus GS specification and compare price now at www.lexus.co.uk

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