[Stoves] Hydrogen from water increasing heat

[frank at compostlab.com]

It seems others may disagree and I was thinking this experiment may put the
question to bed. Always nice to take the rare opportunity to answer a question
about science when it comes. So your answer is it will cool the flame - but
what if it doesn't!? :)









On Sat, 08 Dec 2007 15:19:14 +0000, AJH wrote
> On Fri, 7 Dec 2007 22:50:44 -0800, frank at compostlab.com wrote:
> 
> >Not sure what that will tell us but i think if the flame is cooler with the
> >water means heat is removed as steam but if the temp is higher it means that
> >water does split and hydrogen aids combustion.
> 
> I'm unsure from your description what's supposed to be happening but
> vaporising water will be endothermic as will be splitting water into
> hydrogen and oxygen, if they did split they would have to recombine
> unless another chemical process intervened and carried of the 
> hydrogen and oxygen atoms in other molecules. In recombining they 
> would give off the same energy that was absorbed in splitting, so no 
> net effect.
> 
> > Perhaps it only splits at the
> >higher nitrous oxide and acetylene flame and not at the lower temperatures of
> >air acetylene or even the lower temperatures we are working with. Knowing the
> >temp that it does split (if it does) could greatly help us optimize the
moisture.
> 
> In the absence of a catalyst I think steam will start dissociating at
> 1800K at low pressure and a quick google suggests that this process
> will only complete under a high vacuum and 3600K.
> 
> It's all largely academic as I don't believe temperatures of >1200C
> (~1500K) are attainable in these small stoves.
> 
> AJH
> 
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--
Frank Shields
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