Quote:
Originally Posted by Angrist
What Manasecret said. How much energy can salt water hold?
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That's not really the issue. If you get hydrogen out of it, there's plenty of energy in that. According to Wikipedia, the combustion reaction of hydrogen gas is
2 H2(g) + O2(g) → 2 H2O(l) + 572 kJ/mol
So we know the energy released is 572 kJ/mol, but it's hard for me to visualize a mole of anything. Look up or calculate how many moles of water are in a liter, you'll get 55.55 moles of H2O in one liter. So multiply the energy by the moles/liter
572 kJ/mol * 55.55 mol/liter = 31.77 MJ/liter
which according to Wikipedia is pretty close to the energy content of gasoline (34.6 megajoules per liter). Assuming my memory of chemistry calculations is right, that's a plenty of energy.
Or just look at this photo and you'll come to the same conclusion.
It matters more whether the energy needed to produce the radio waves that are performing the water electrolysis talked about here with the "water burning" is less than the energy received from the hydrogen.