Potentially huge news...scientist burns water.

[Angrist]

Originally Posted by manasecret

2 H2(g) + O2(g) → 2 H2O(l) + 572 kJ/mol

That's exactly my point. You don't have H2 there, you already have H2O, the énd/wáste product of that reaction. What would the reaction be that gives energy from burning H2O? How do you even burn H2O?

IF what they're doing is seperating the 2 H2 from the O2 and then burning it... it's going in a circle, you'd turn it into 2 H2O again. Law of conservation of energy.

If they have another reaction, I can't imagine what it would be, not with my 5 years of chemistry classes.

[manasecret]

Originally Posted by Angrist

That's exactly my point. You don't have H2 there, you already have H2O, the énd/wáste product of that reaction. What would the reaction be that gives energy from burning H2O? How do you even burn H2O?

Yeah it's misleading, they aren't really burning water, just breaking it into H2 and burning that.

IF what they're doing is seperating the 2 H2 from the O2 and then burning it... it's going in a circle, you'd turn it into 2 H2O again. Law of conservation of energy.

Yep, that's what they're doing. They're performing the same-old, ho-hum electrolysis of H20 into 2 H2 and O2 that we've known how to do for decades. The exciting part is that no one has ever done it without sticking electrodes in there to do that.

If they have another reaction, I can't imagine what it would be, not with my 5 years of chemistry classes.

I know! And I think that's what's baffling the researchers. I'm excited to know what the reaction is.