Tuesday, May 31, 2005

freeze and conserve

Freezing gas prices
David Hutchison is a Cryogenics expert. He built this Cryo-Process himself. He runs a business out of his garage where he cryogenically tempers all kinds of metals. He submerges them in a frozen tank of nitrogen vapor that is 300 degrees below zero.
David says, “During that time, at minus 300 degrees, the molecules slow down. Then they reorganize themselves. That's when the actual chemical change happens.”
...
A hybrid Honda typically gets really great gas mileage anyway, around 50 miles to the gallon, but David Hutchison's cryogenically tempered engine has been known to get close to 120 miles a gallon.

Not sure how much credence to give it, but seems promising at first blush. Worth looking into, if it actually doubles the efficiency of a hybrid.

People talk about the need for an "energy manhattan project", which is a poor analogy for the dilemma we face. Conservation will happen; natures mandate; if we all share, we'll be fine. Odds and ends like this have a better shot at getting us where we need to go than hot fusion.

UPDATE:
In the cold light of day, the claims in the story link seem rather outlandish. Don't drink and blog, kids.

4 Comments:

At 6:58 AM, May 31, 2005, Blogger Engineer-Poet said...

Exactly how is a re-arrangement of the atoms in the metal of the engine supposed to increase the efficiency of the engine?  Does it magically increase the pressure on the power stroke, or prevent heat from being conducted out of the expanding gas to the cold metal around it?

This claim is well into crank territory, or fraud.  It's like the "fuel line magnets" that scammers will sell you for a mere $200.

 
At 7:58 PM, May 31, 2005, Blogger @whut said...

I can find anybody willing to say anything. It's just a matter of the media latching on to it that makes the difference between awareness and ignoring the idea.

 
At 8:28 PM, May 31, 2005, Blogger JMS said...

Yep. Well, if I have contributed in some small way to this dude's garage business of freezing peoples golf clubs, score one for the American Dream.

 
At 5:31 PM, June 02, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If we all share, we will be fine.
Brilliant, and right on!

 

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