It's cold on the Prairies

Rruuff Day said:
Yup. That's chilly. I was doing the engineering for an oilfield project up north on the Wapiti River many years back. It hit -45 and we gassed up at a station and checked the oil. Was a quart low. That was back when the oil was kept outside on a rack by the pumps. We grabbed a can, stuck the pour spot through the top and tipped it up....Hmmmm... no oil... Yup there was oil but it so cold it was the consistency of grease. We cut the top right off the can and still couldn't pour it. Had to leave the truck running and set it in on the engine until it thawed out.
Another thing came to light when we got to the project site. Got out to take a leak and noticed before I could get my zipper up it was a totally frozen pool of ice on the ground. Last thing i always remember was at -50, when you spit, it shatters when it hits the ground....

Was only -41 here this morning. Couple more days and we are suppose to start warming up. Couch potato until then....Lost power yesterday for a couple hours. Glad I had a wood stove. News said a couple of natural gas generator stations cratered and due to the high power demand there was no reserve power. They are asking Alberta to limit power use now. Shut down our furnaces so people can plug in their EV's.... lol... Quite the testimonial how a power grid is going to cope with 100 million EV's on the road once Justin realizes his dream.... :(
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A lot there for one smilie to take care of. At least your pee came out better than the oil! lol
And it's not "his" dream and it's inevitable eventually. At least until the next version of cold fusion comes along. Personally I'd rather see Hydrogen cars. The most abundant fuel in the universe or omniverse for that matter and it's byproduct is water!
 
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^^^Agree that's the future^^^

There was a big movement by the hydrogen folks to convert material handling equipment from DC power to Hydrogen back in the early 2000's. Then along came "Rapid Charge" technology using lead acid batteries and specialized chargers. Hydrogen took a back seat.
 
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Murray20c8 said:
A lot there for one smilie to take care of. At least your pee came out better than the oil! lol
And it's not "his" dream and it's inevitable eventually. At least until the next version of cold fusion comes along. Personally I'd rather see Hydrogen cars. The most abundant fuel in the universe or omniverse for that matter and it's byproduct is water!
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Guess I should have been clearer on "his dream". Yes. You are correct. EV's were not JT's dream. The cap on the use of fossil fuels is partly his though.
Hydrogen is not the cure-all end-all many think for numerous reasons of which I will expand a bit on here just because I, like our past member Netsinah, like to hear myself talk and also to piss off Raccoons.... Good practice too in case I'm invited to speak at the next G7 summit to discuss energy... Lmao...

The cost of producing hydrogen in usable quantities is prohibitive at the moment. It takes a huge amount of energy to extract hydrogen as it requires splitting from water molecules which is counterproductive. Or alternatively we can extract hydrogen through the burning of natural gas...But that seems to defeat some of the environmental advantage as well. But yes. Once it is used in a fuel cell containing oxygen, electrodes and electrolyte, water is the end product albeit in a lesser quantity than that which the hydrogen was extracted from. Platinum is also the largest part of the fuel cell makeup which is also extremely expensive as it's supply is very limited.

So. Once we use the world's water supply (which appears to be dwindling fast), to extract hydrogen from and then retrofit and manufacture all the vehicles to use it, all is good....errrr... except then the safety factor. We think lithium battery vehicle fires are pretty wild. Wait for widespread hydrogen fueled vehicles to become popular. The bonus I guess is after we forget about the cost, the energy consumption and the carbon released to produce the fuel cell, It is a clean source of energy.

As for cold fusion, that is an even wilder dream than JT's. Science has basically proven over and over again that it is impossible to create on earth. So short of setting up a colony of scientists on the sun, don't hold your breath on that one.

That's all. :rolleyes:

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Rruuff Day said:
The cost of producing hydrogen in usable quantities is prohibitive at the moment. It takes a huge amount of energy to extract hydrogen as it requires splitting from water molecules which is counterproductive. Or alternatively we can extract hydrogen through the burning of natural gas...But that seems to defeat some of the environmental advantage as well. But yes. Once it is used in a fuel cell containing oxygen, electrodes and electrolyte, water is the end product albeit in a lesser quantity than that which the hydrogen was extracted from. Platinum is also the largest part of the fuel cell makeup which is also extremely expensive as it's supply is very limited.
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It's abundant. Just get it from the Sun! ;)

Rruuff Day said:
...errrr... except then the safety factor. :rolleyes:

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It can be safer than gasoline. It's non toxic and it disperses rapidly in air. It's lighter than air. Too many people point to the Hindenburg, but it was the diesel fuel that ignited. The hydrogen would burn "up". no pun intended.
 
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Murray20c8 said:
It's abundant. Just get it from the Sun! ;)


It can be safer than gasoline. It's non toxic and it disperses rapidly in air. It's lighter than air. Too many people point to the Hindenburg, but it was the diesel fuel that ignited. The hydrogen would burn "up". no pun intended.
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Look up the National Fire Protection Association rating for hydrogen. To save you the mouse click, it possesses the NFPA's highest rating of 4 for flammability. Gasoline is rated by NFPA as a 3. I suppose if you are considering kids that are sniffing hydrogen instead of gasoline fumes to get high a safety factor, I will give that one to you. ;)

As far as the Hindenburg is concerned, the flashpoint of diesel is about 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 Celsius). In ambient temperatures, it is basically nonflammable. Thus I can fill my diesel truck at a service station with the engine running and a cigarette lit. Poured onto a fire, yes. It will burn. The Hindenburg fire is considered to be caused by an electrostatic discharge which ignited hydrogen leaking from the airship, not from ignited diesel fuel. Did the diesel ignite once the hydrogen was burning the airship? Very likely yes to that.
 
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Rruuff Day said:
As far as the Hindenburg is concerned, the flashpoint of diesel is about 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 Celsius). In ambient temperatures, it is basically nonflammable. Thus I can fill my diesel truck at a service station with the engine running and a cigarette lit. Poured onto a fire, yes. It will burn. The Hindenburg fire is considered to be caused by an electrostatic discharge which ignited hydrogen leaking from the airship, not from ignited diesel fuel. Did the diesel ignite once the hydrogen was burning the airship? Very likely yes to that.
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Well, that is one theory. The point though is that Hydrogen burns up. The ignition temperature for hydrogen is 500 °C (932 °F).
 
Even these plastic ducks find it cold.
IMG_1613.jpeg
 
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