WEBVTT - How Hydrogen Fuel Works: Part Two 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.200 Get in touch with technology with tex Stuff from how 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:14.320 stuff Works dot com. Hey everyone, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:17.280 I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren, and we are going 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:22.680 to continue answering Daniel by a Facebook's question about hydrogen cars. 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:27.080 Are they a good idea? Question? Mark? I think I 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:30.040 just paraphrased it, but we we want to continue our discussion. 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:32.599 If you listen to our last episode, we talked all 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.440 about the basic science behind hydrogen and as well as 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:42.160 the early exploration of hydrogen by philosophers and proto scientists. 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.360 Right because although it is the most abundant element in 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:49.200 the universe, we don't find it, uh flying free very 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.600 often and usually bonded up with stuff. So there was 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.400 a long process of everyone trying to figure out exactly 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:58.279 what it does and how to get it free, and yeah, 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:00.200 what do you do with it then? Like, can do 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:03.080 anything useful? Or does it just set your hair on fire? 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.520 I'm sure there were a lot of interesting laboratory incidents. 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:10.000 Is that what happened to your hair? Let's not go 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.600 into my lex luthor like past, because then my my 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:17.160 nemesis will learn too many of my weaknesses. So so 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:21.520 we left off around the eighteen hundreds, eighteen twenties specifically, 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:25.400 and we were coming up on eighteen thirty nine is 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.440 our next day on our timeline, wherein Sir William Grove 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.400 invented what was essentially the first fuel cell, although he 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.199 didn't call it that. It was called a gas voltaic battery. 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.680 Based on what he knew about electrolysis, which is the 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.720 process where you apply electricity to water and separate it 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.960 into its constituent elements, being hydrogen and oxygen, he hypothesized 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:48.920 that you could go the opposite way, that you could 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:54.080 combine hydrogen oxygen gases to create an electric current plus water. Yep, 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:57.400 that's which is exactly the very basis of fuel cells. 0:01:57.520 --> 0:01:59.960 And we'll talk a lot more about fuel cells as well. 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.000 And then we get to the eighteen sixties and eighteen seventies, 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:06.240 and that's when a certain in a auto O T 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.600 T O. He's the guy who created the first four 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:13.000 stroke combustion cycle. We actually call it the auto cycle. 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:16.880 Use synthetic gas for fuel. Now, it's believed, it's not 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.959 fully documented, but believe that this gas was at least hydrogen, 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:25.480 probably more than that. Now. He reportedly also experiment with gasoline, 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:27.720 but he dismissed it because he felt it was too 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:29.960 dangerous to work with. This is coming from the guy 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:35.040 who's using hydrogen. Oh, I get gasoline is scary. Well, 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.040 to be fair, they had not yet invented the carburetor, 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.400 and the carburetor is what makes gasoline really a useful 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:43.360 fuel for engines. I'll talk a little bit about that 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.280 in a second. And it's really the only thing holding 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.320 back Michael Bay. Yes, exactly. If you listen to our 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:51.840 last episode, you'll realize that Michael Bay being allowed to 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.639 make cars is a terrible, terrible mistake that we cannot 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:57.520 allow hat to happen. Also, movies, he shouldn't be allowed 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.799 to do those either, so neither prep. The four stroke 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.160 combustion cycle is what most cars today are based on. 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:07.560 So if you listen to our last episode, you heard 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:11.720 me talk about the vacuum based engine where it creates 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.720 It creates this expanding gas, and as the gas cools 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.000 and is released, it creates a vacuum which pulls the 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.119 piston that allows you to do work. Yeah, it's it's 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.360 not that practical, but this one was very practical. And 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.720 this one involves pushing rather than pulling, So the for 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.919 the whole thing. You have a piston that is uh 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:33.200 inside a chamber. Right, you have a combustion chamber. The 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.880 piston can be all the way in the chamber, in 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:37.720 which case it's closed off, or it could be all 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:39.760 the way up to the very other end of the 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.080 chamber where it's all open, so you've got an open 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:44.920 space there. The other end of that piston is attached 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.680 to a crank that can rotate. So when the crank 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.120 is in the upward position, the pistons pushed all the 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:52.600 way in. When the crank is in the downward position, 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.120 the pistons pulled all the way out, and as it rotates, 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.480 the piston can move in and out. So here's how 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:03.840 this four stroke combustion cycle works. You have four different phases. 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:06.839 You have the intake. Now this stage, the piston, which 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:08.400 is attached to that crank is at the top of 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.920 the cylinder and intake valve opens and this inserts a 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:15.640 mixture of fuel and air into the cylinder. That crank 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:18.400 turns and the piston moves down, so you start getting 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:23.000 this chamber filled with this mixture of air and fuel. Next, 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.120 you have the compression stage. This is where the valve 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:29.400 shuts off, so it can't it's not bringing in any gas, 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:32.359 it can't let any gas out. But the crank continues 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:35.800 to turn, pushing the piston up, and that compresses the 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.400 mixture of fuel and air exactly, so you know you've 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.320 got this very compact gas, this mix of fuel and 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:44.719 air together. This, by the way, is the same for 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.160 hydrogen based combustion engines as well as gasoline based, same 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:51.080 same principle. So you've got this compressed mixture of air 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.159 and gas. Then you have the combustion phase. This is 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.040 where you get a spark and that ignites that fuel 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:01.520 and air mixture, which then rapidly expands essentially explodes. Okay, 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:03.880 so you've got this explosion which then pushes against the 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.920 piston that drives it downward, turning the crank. Then you 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:09.600 have an exhaust phase, where an exhaust valve opens up 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.880 and all that exhausted air and fuel mixture gets vented 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.760 out while the piston starts to move back up, and 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.279 then you start all over. So once you get this going, 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.320 it just keeps moving that crank around, and that's where 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:27.440 you get the power to do stuff like move your wheels. So, uh, 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:30.440 you know, engines have various different numbers of cylinders. You've 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.000 probably heard things like V eight. That's that's the configuration 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.480 of cylinders and the number of cylinders there are. Technically, 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:39.880 the more cylinders you have, the more power you're generating. 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.479 Up to about twelve cylinders. At that point you kind 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.040 of start getting into a wash. You have a diminishing 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.159 the law of diminishing returns, that kind of thing. But 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.680 this is the basis, and this is what made internal 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:56.360 combustion engines useful. Before that, you had external combustion engines, 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.400 which you know, first you would think that makes it 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:00.600 sound like there's gonna be all these explosion is everywhere, 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.080 But no, we're talking things like steam engines stuff like that, 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:06.960 where you actually had open flame boiling up steam so 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:09.279 that you could generate this this same sort of power 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:11.159 because you know, the steam would push pistons too. We 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:16.600 talked all about that. It's pretty much that's the way 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:20.279 of the world, speaking of steam. Our friend Jules Verne, Wow, 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:24.960 eighteen seventy four. Yeah, Jules Verne, so the the famed writer, 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:29.040 the one of the earliest in I don't know if 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.000 you call it science fiction of that era, but it's 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.120 certainly the precursor to modern science fiction and what a 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:38.440 lot of stuff like steampunk is based upon. So Jules 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:42.040 Verne wrote in The Mysterious Island a prediction. Now, granted, 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.480 this is a prediction within the context of a work 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:48.200 of fiction. I say that because as a Shakespearean I 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:52.320 get really irritated people who attribute a quote to Shakespeare 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:55.440 when really it's one of Shakespeare's characters. But anyway, so 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:57.960 what he said in The Mysterious Island was that one 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.400 day water itself would be whyly used as fuel by 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.160 breaking it down into hydrogen and oxygen. So it was 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:09.840 a very you know, futuristic kind of of of vision 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.400 he had, but also a realistic one. It wasn't one 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:14.840 outside the realm of possibility. Oh yeah, sure, and it was. 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.640 It was almost thirty years after Sir William Grove had 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:21.920 had made those those hypotheses and improved them about the 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:26.360 opposition of electrolysis. Yeah. Yeah, So it was an interesting 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:28.240 science thing that he picked up on, and it's now 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:31.040 seeping into the public consciousness because now you've got it 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:35.800 popularized by fiction as well as in the scientific literature. Uh. 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.000 In the eighteen seventies, and eighteen eighties, you had several 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:41.160 engineers working independently and they all came up with this 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:43.920 idea for the carburetor. The reason why I have it 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.840 worded this way is because if you ask people who 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:49.680 invented the carburetor, you get into a lot of flame wars, 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.920 not literally, the figurative kind of flame war. Well that's good, 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:56.560 I'm I'm glad. I would hope they don't battle it 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.560 out with flamethrowers or something. I actually kind of hope 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:01.400 that just make me a bad person. I'm not going 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:03.000 to comment one we're or the other for fear of 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.080 you turning a flamethrower on me. So yeah, this, uh, 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.320 this is where you know, depending upon whom you ask, 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:10.520 you get a lot of different answers about who actually 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.559 invented the carburetor. But the carburetor's purpose is to mix 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:19.680 together gasoline with air to run an engine safely and efficiently. Now, 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:24.280 this invention made gasoline powered UH internal combustion engines possible, 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.800 It made it made them practical. So because of this 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.760 attention starts to shift away from hydrogen and towards gasoline. 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:35.360 Because gasoline was easier to come by, UH, you could uh, 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:37.880 use it as a fuel now with this way instead 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:41.240 of trying to just use pure gasoline. So, uh, that's 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.400 kind of why the hydrogen based car, I would say, 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:45.959 I would argue, this is the big reason why the 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.599 hydrogen based car didn't become the car like this, It 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.400 didn't become the way we used vehicles and why gasoline 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:57.960 ended up taking over. So eight nine we have Ludwig 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:02.520 Mond and Car Longer who actually coined the term fuel cell, 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:06.280 and their version used cold gas and air as the fuel. 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:08.720 So we've talked to a couple of times mentioned fuel 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:12.040 cells like twice already in this podcast. Yeah, so let's 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:14.160 talk a little bit about how they work. Yeah, So 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:18.559 basic idea is that you've got two compartments, two chambers 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:20.800 and into one. This is this is for a hydrogen 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:22.840 based fuel cell, which is what most of the fuel 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.320 cells we talk about are. You put in one chamber 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:28.960 hydrogen pure hydrogen. You put in the other chamber pure 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:34.600 oxygen between the two. Yeah, yes, ideally you could meddle 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:37.760 with this, but then the byproducts you get afterward are 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:41.200 more than what a pure hydrogen based fuel cell would do. 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:45.080 So then you put between the two a semi permeable 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:48.079 membrane that's coated with a catalyst, and a catalyst is 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.880 essentially something that makes other stuff happen or makes it 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:56.360 happen more easily. Now the hydrogen uh cannot pass through 0:09:56.400 --> 0:10:00.439 the semiperbiable membrane unaltered. The only way it's going to 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:02.440 be allowed to get into the party with all of 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:06.120 its oxygen buddies is to shed a pesky electron. And 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.240 if you remember from our last podcast, what's the hydrogen atom. 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.320 It's a proton and electron, So that's it. So you 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:14.719 want to get hydrogen ions, they have to ditch their 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:18.280 electron buddies and then they get on across the semi 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:20.960 permeable membrane. They're fine, they can go join their oxygen buddies. 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.480 All those electrons start to build up. They don't like 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:28.160 each other, okay, they're all negatively charged, their negative nancy's. 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.079 They don't want to be there. They want to get 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:31.920 out of that and head over to the other side 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.400 of the party, where at least there's some tolerable have 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.640 elements and ions hanging out and not all these just 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:42.040 electron jerks. So if you create a pathway from the 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:45.720 hydrogen side to the oxygen side. Then they're going to 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:48.079 take it because now they've got a way to get 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.320 away from all these other jerks. And if you force 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:52.679 them to do a little bit of work along the way, yeah, 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.880 then they're like, you know, I don't like doing this work, 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:57.319 but I'm totally gonna do it if it means I 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.680 want to get into that party. Uh So this sounds 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:02.880 like and you know what happens when you put a 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.440 battery in a circuit. That's essentially what we're talking about here. 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:08.160 We're talking about creating a circuit, a pathway for electrons 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:11.200 to follow to go from an area of negative concentration 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.440 to an area where there are positive holes that's what 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.280 we usually call them, for the electrons to fill. So 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.600 we create this this pathway, the electrons from the hydrogen 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:24.000 side will go through it, do work, enter in on 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:28.000 the oxygen side where the hydrogen ions already are start 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.200 to recombine with these things, which then forms water. So 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:35.360 the output you get from your typical hydrogen oxygen fuel cell, 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:40.840 assuming you're using pure hydrogen and pure oxygen, is electricity, 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:45.760 water and heat. That's it. Fantastic technology. There are some 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.160 there's some drawbacks. One of the big ones is that 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.440 the materials tend to be really expensive. The catalysts tend 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.360 to be things like platinum, which, don't know, if you've 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:57.800 priced it recently, it's yeah, yeah, it's a little on 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.920 the deer side. Now we're talking about nanoparticles of platinum, 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:03.160 so a little goes a long way. But still it's 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:06.959 really expensive, and it's expensive to separate hydrogen out from 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.800 anything that it is connected to. Right, you could say, well, 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:11.760 why don't you just separate out from water while you're 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:15.280 making water too, You're actually you'd be spending more energy 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:17.560 trying to get the hydrogen out that way. Now, if 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.000 you were able to harness some other form of electricity 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:23.120 to do the work for you, Like let's say you 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:26.360 had a solar panel farm and that solar panel farm 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:29.720 was generating electricity solely for the purpose to separate out 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:34.240 hydrogen from oxygen and water, and then you harvested the 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:36.800 hydrogen and use that in your fuel cells. That's a 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:41.120 possible solution. It would be, you know, a complicated infrastructure, 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:43.000 but it's workable, and in fact, that's one of the 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:46.200 things Toyota is looking at. They're also looking at harnessing 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:48.520 wind power to do the same sort of thing. So 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:52.040 finding a renewable energy source so that you can produce 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.000 this hydrogen, because otherwise you're just spending more than what 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:57.439 you're making. And then again we're at that losing proposition. 0:12:57.480 --> 0:12:58.640 It is. It is one of the one of the 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:01.000 several problems with fuel else But but we'll get a 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:04.360 little bit more into that later on. Yeah, So now 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:07.440 we've got all of that, all the fuel cell stuff 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:09.520 out of the way, We've got the combustion engine now 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:11.440 the way. We got a lot of more stuff to 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:12.920 get out of the way. But before we get that 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.400 out of the way, there's something else we need to do. Lauren, 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.000 and let's take a quick moment to thank our sponsor. 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:22.040 All Right, we're back. Uh what year is it now? 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:25.720 It is? Okay, we're gonna talk about as scott Now 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:29.960 a Scottish chemist named James Doer who used regenerative cooling 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:34.199 and a vacuum flask to liquefy hydrogen at the Royal 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:38.680 Institution of Great Britain in London. Now that next year 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.520 he even managed to go a step further and reduce 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:45.680 the temperature enough so that he could solidify hydrogen. Now 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.360 you might wonder how cold are we talking about here? 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:53.319 That happens at a temperature of negative three eighty two 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.880 degrees fahrenheit or negative two hundred and thirty nine point 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.440 nine degrees celsius. And I think even our friends to 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:03.080 the Great White North could agree that that's pretty chilly. 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:07.240 I was out at like a like fahrenheits yeah, I'm like, yeah, 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.160 you know, I gotta cover my tomatoes when it gets 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.880 down to sixty. So we're kind of joking. But but 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:15.120 so more about this vacuum flask. This thing is the 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:18.040 coolest thing. I mean, I don't didn't mean to make 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:20.520 a pun, but it's I never believe you when you 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:22.720 say that. I really, as I was saying it, I 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:24.960 was judging myself. So if that makes you feel any better. 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:27.760 It's a double walled flask, so you think of it 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:31.960 as two flasks, one slightly smaller one set inside the 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:36.000 slightly larger one, and that space between the larger one 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.920 the smaller one is completely evacuated of all materials. So 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.520 it's it's a vacuum, right, You've got a vacuum between 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.840 those two sides. Now, what this does is it allows 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.720 you to insulate whatever material is on the inside that 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.120 flask from the outside environment. It does not conduct heat 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:56.840 very well at all. Therefore, you can conduct experiments at 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:00.120 particular temperatures. Yeah, you can have low temperature experiment. It's 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.520 where you just keep reducing the temperature and you don't 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.640 have to worry about the heat from the outside environment 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.920 because then then you would never get anything cold enough 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:12.000 to be able to do this stuff like liquefying hydrogen. 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.280 I mean, you've got to get it really cold, and 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:17.120 any sort of environmental heat is going to immediately move 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:19.320 from an area of high concentration to an area of 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.880 low concentration. That's kind of sort of what thermodynamics do, 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.240 you know. So the other thing is that it also 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:31.080 is really good at keeping hot stuff hot, so you know, 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.400 like a like a thermis. You know, it's it's because 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:36.400 again it's not allowing the heat from the inside of 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.680 the flask to leak out into the outside environment. Gradually 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:43.000 it will still cool down or the stuff inside will 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.200 gradually still get warm. Because it's not a perfect system. 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.960 At the neck of this flask, that's where the weak 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.680 point is because at some point those two the inner 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.160 and outer flask have to join together. You can't. You 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:59.080 can't just magically suspended. So there are some weak points 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.080 in this. It's not a perfect system, but it does 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:04.680 work really, really well. Now let's go to one of 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.720 my favorite parts of the podcast, because this is where 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.120 we get to talk about some incredible music. Because in 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:16.600 nine that's when Count Ferdinand Vaughan led Zeppelin launched the 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:21.080 first hydrogen filled rigid airship called the Ferdinand. Just just 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:26.800 just von Zeppelin. It wasn't vun lead Zeppelin that my 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:30.680 musical past has betrayed me once again. Well no, no, 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:32.800 of course we don't call them the Ferdinand's. We call 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:37.600 them Zeppelin's. But they were not made out of lead. 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:39.520 I guess maybe some of the material might have been 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:48.280 led low lead Zeppelin, maybe spandex or okay, that's fair, yeah, alright, 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:53.200 so but anyway, this, this was the hydrogen filled rigid airship. 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:55.880 These are those dirigibles that you've seen in the past 0:16:55.960 --> 0:17:00.840 and were majestic vehicles. But we'll get into why we 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.920 don't really see those anymore in just a couple of years. Certainly, 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:08.200 although I believe that hydrogen was being used, I think 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.440 he was German, and I think Germany was using hydrogen 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.639 at the time, because the United States was holding a 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.760 great amount of the helium in the world at the time, 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.640 and hydrogen was kind of considered the next best thing, 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.639 right because you know, both hydrogen and helium have this 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:25.439 lifting property being being lighter than air. Sure, So so 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:29.040 these zeppelins might have been using something slightly less combustible 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:31.679 like helium, if they had had the opportunity to helium, 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:35.639 by the way, significantly less combustible as in not but 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.879 but yes hydrogen. Yeah, I mean, you use whatever you 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:42.919 have available, and that's exactly what they did. Five we 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.520 have Henry Garrett, who is was rather an American inventor 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:50.359 who created an automobile that quote unquote ran on water. 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:53.800 So this is where a lot not all of them obviously, 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.880 but a lot of conspiracy theories about uh, big car 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:02.200 companies or big oil companies pushing down all these inventions 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:04.840 that ran quote unquote ran on water. A lot of 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.639 them come from this kind of thing. There are some 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:11.000 there's some truth to vehicles that used water as a 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:16.440 component for fuel, but they all had their own big drawbacks. 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:20.359 So Garrett's was one that used electrolysis, like we had said, 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.480 so it's using electricity to separate water out into hydrogen 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:26.520 and oxygen um. And then the car was really using 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:30.120 hydrogen as a fuel, which is not the most efficient ride. 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:32.119 You're already having to spend so much energy just to 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:34.560 create the fuel that then continues to move the car, 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.600 and he had to refill it a lot, so not 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:41.920 necessarily the best approach. Now this is before we really 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.200 had useful ways of storing lots of pressurized hydrogen which 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:49.280 would allow us to have kind of a consistent fueling source. Sure, 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:51.119 but I mean, I can I can see where the 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:55.240 conspiracy or or um fringe theorists as I hear they 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:58.360 preferred to be called by many angry people on the internet, 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:02.840 the ones I keep making mad uh, you know, I 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:05.879 I can see I can see where perhaps um gasoline 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:09.080 powered car companies would not have at that particular time 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:13.520 wanted to donate funding to that kind of research, right right, well, 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:17.439 and you know they're definitely there's a huge investment in 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:21.680 the gasoline automobile industry, I mean from multiple players, not 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:26.439 just not just the car. So but yeah, then we 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:30.840 have a truly terrible disaster in nineteen seven, Right on 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:34.680 May six of that year, the Hindenburg zeppelin disaster occurred, 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:38.840 and that has has put for the intervening time between 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.199 then and now, this idea into the public's mind that 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:45.240 hydrogen is an extremely dangerous substance, right, that that to 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:49.200 use hydrogen is to court death. Yes, although it should 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:52.960 be noted that hydrogen was not the instigator of that disaster. Okay, So, 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:56.000 so the blimp was coded in aluminum powder to reflect sunlight. 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:59.800 Aluminum powder these days is a critical component of rocket fuel. 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:03.080 Under that coat, the cotton fabric was waterproofed with a 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:06.560 flammable acetate. There was a lot of static electricity in 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:08.439 the air from a storm that day, so when the 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:11.399 crew dropped the mooring ropes, it electrically grounded the blimp 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:15.360 and set off sparks that ignited this highly flammable material, 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.600 which then of course came into contact with this hydrogen 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:20.959 that's inside of it, and the whole thing let up. 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:24.399 Proponents of hydrogen fuel, though, actually is the Hindenburg as 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:28.800 a as a point to hydrogen safety because the really 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:31.679 lightweight hydrogen ascended up out of the blimp so fast 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.800 that the flames went upward, not outward or downwards, So 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.440 it saved the lives of everyone who actually remained on board, right, 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:41.000 So yeah, I mean it's it's interesting that something we 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:44.960 look at as being an example of this stuff is 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:47.840 going to be too dangerous for us to use actually 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.639 is an example of No, you're you're looking at this 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:52.560 the wrong way. You're not. You don't have the full picture, 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:55.600 right right, it's I mean, sure, it's it's dangerous, but 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.159 everything is dangerous, and what's more dangerous is coating your 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:03.320 blimp and rocket fuel. Yeah, okay, alright, got the note, Lauren, 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:05.560 I'm not going to use any more rocket fuel on 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:09.400 my blimp. And that same year as the Hannonbury disaster, 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:13.760 there was an experimental gaseous hydrogen fueled jet engine test 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:18.000 and that's the first working jet engine using hydrogen. So 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:20.280 then we move on to nineteen thirty eight. That's when 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.240 Igor Sikorski, who was a Russian American aviator, proposed using 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:27.560 liquid hydrogen as a fuel for aviation. So you know, 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:31.040 we already still had people saying that hydrogen had its place. 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:36.720 By ninety one, we have the first mass application of 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:41.920 hydrogen internal combustion engines. That's when a Russian lieutenant whose 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.280 name I'm not even going to attempt to pronounce ordered 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:48.840 the conversion of several Ford Model G A Z dash 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:52.800 A A cars, the the Double A, the Model Double 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:56.840 A UH into hydrogen internal combustion engines converted from gasoline 0:21:56.840 --> 0:21:59.760 to hydrogen as part of the war effort during World 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:04.240 War to forest Sheila shit, thank oh nice. I was 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:07.040 not going to try because my Russian is worse than 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:11.160