Interesting idea - air powered car, no 914 content Options

[shelby/914]

an interesting watch, the car runs on compressed air

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4

[Katmanken]

You have been watching too many movies....

In Hollywood, every car that goes off a cliff explodes in a fireball....

I'ts been a stock trick for years and a pet peeve of mine.... Ask my wife...

In reality, the cops find cars at the bottom of the cliff- unburned.

Breaching a tank from an impact will not cause the tank to explode. Yes, it will leak, but no, it won't explode all by itself. Need something to ignite the fuel. Once it leaks across the ground and catches fire (spark, cigarette from a bystander, hot exhaust,) it burns black and smokey. Ever seen a teener catch fire and burn? I have and no, the tank didn't explode.... The rear tires do puff up and "explode" from the heat of the fire.

To "explode", you need a finely atomized fuel/air mix- like a fuel-air bomb. Hollywood uses them a lot in action movies.

You can try it yourself. Buy a teener with with old gas in the tank that has sat for years. Put a little old gas in a pan and throw a match into it. I was amazed how hard it was to ignite.

With the air engine you burn fuel at a power station (energy loss), convert it to electricity (energy loss), transmit it through an electrical grid (energy loss), and use the power to run an electric pump (big power loss). All of us with air compressors notice that compressing air is hard work for a big electrical motor, and a lot of wasted energy goes out as heat at the pump and the motor. With hi pressure scuba tanks, the tanks get really hot (more heat/energy loss) and must be immersed in water to cool.

Do the math, that air engine MPG efficiency sucks. Bet it is more efficient and less polluting to bypass the power plant with the fuel and put the fuel directly in your tank to burn.

Ken