Running cars on Oxygen?

Zip · 6 Jun 2007 at 05:15

Been home all day, Alone and bored so Ive been youtubing

And i came across this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpSw5Ngxsnk

I new Oxygen burns but i didnt know it combusts so fast you hardly see a flame.

Then the thought came to me about a thread made on here about diesel burning too slow to get a fast reving engine.

Now since oxygen Combusts really quick (apparently) and obviously oxygen is everywhere, then why arnt people trying to develop car engines that run on pure oxygen? :confused:

That way you could have a high reving car which is clean for the environment

jellybeard999 · 6 Jun 2007 at 05:21

But most gases are everywhere, just not in pure form (ie the air). There are hydrogen cars in development, maybe oxygen isnt the best choice.

tim_enchanter · 6 Jun 2007 at 05:34

Yep like a load of other fuels that are out there, it would depend how much energy you need to use to obtain a usable oxygen fuel.

Zuma · 6 Jun 2007 at 08:14

oxygen isn't a fuel, it doesn't burn.
burning is a chemical reaction that takes place between oxygen and a fuel.
so if you tried running your car on pure oxygen the only place that the fuel would come from is the engine itself, (the cylinder liners, the spark plugs, valves etc) and the oxygen would oxidise it.

in that braniacs clip, assuming it wasn't their usual faked up nonsense, what you were seeing was the balloon and tin foil being very quickly oxidised due to the high concentration of oxygen in the microwave.

Fishman · 6 Jun 2007 at 08:28

Zuma said:
oxygen isn't a fuel, it doesn't burn.
burning is a chemical reaction that takes place between oxygen and a fuel.
so if you tried running your car on pure oxygen the only place that the fuel would come from is the engine itself, (the cylinder liners, the spark plugs, valves etc) and the oxygen would oxidise it.

in that braniacs clip, assuming it wasn't their usual faked up nonsense, what you were seeing was the balloon and tin foil being very quickly oxidised due to the high concentration of oxygen in the microwave.

Indeed, dont forget there was the actual balloon to consume also.
Nitrous oxide provides higher than air concentration of oxygen to the engine which meands more fuel can be burned per unit time = more power.
I imagine you could substitute nitrous oxide for oxygen with some reworking.

Simon · 6 Jun 2007 at 09:25

Oxygen in the atmosphere is what allows EVERYTHING to burn, houses, trees, you name it.

Basically without oxygen you can't burn fuel, some high performance fuels do have a bit of oxygen in them though(2.5-3%)

Nitrous Oxide would be a poor replacement for oxygen, very good replacement for air though 33% vs 21% oxygen content

Jonnycoupe · 6 Jun 2007 at 10:15

Fishman said:
I imagine you could substitute nitrous oxide for oxygen with some reworking.

You would melt the engine pretty quickly.

panthro · 6 Jun 2007 at 10:30

Cant see the vid at work, but you cannot combust pure oxygen (because its not combustable) on its own with just heat. This is like going back to GCSE's....think of the fire triangle. You need heat, air (oxygen) and a fuel. The fuel is combustable, not the oxygen.

Lashout_UK · 6 Jun 2007 at 11:09

You would melt the engine pretty quickly.

No you wouldn't, if the system's well designed.

When using a correctly designed system, fitted correctly, there are NO issues, quite the reverse, because the main concern is a loss of power due to pressure drop NOT the risk of component failure. The difficulty is maintaining optimum bottle pressure over long periods of time, which is what really makes the idea a no-go

Kits which are not designed correctly and which are fitted incorrectly cause an initial lean condition that puts the engine on death row from the start and the longer you run them the greater the risk the engine will fail.

Booner! · 6 Jun 2007 at 11:13

Urmmm by the fact that I BREATH OXYGEN

I would rather not kill all the trees (that produce oxygen) AND then burn it all up.

That would be us dead - Game.Set.Match

Jonnycoupe · 6 Jun 2007 at 11:29

Lashout_UK said:
No you wouldn't, if the system's well designed.

When using a correctly designed system, fitted correctly, there are NO issues, quite the reverse, because the main concern is a loss of power due to pressure drop NOT the risk of component failure. The difficulty is maintaining optimum bottle pressure over long periods of time, which is what really makes the idea a no-go

Kits which are not designed correctly and which are fitted incorrectly cause an initial lean condition that puts the engine on death row from the start and the longer you run them the greater the risk the engine will fail.

Yadda yadda , dont read the post properly then.

I was refering to the post that notioned the idea of using pure oxygen rather than Nitrous oxide.

panthro · 6 Jun 2007 at 11:37

Can someone explain what the video demonstrates to me please....because if it is what I am thinking then this is stupid. You cannot run an engine on pure oxygen and ignition alone.

Lashout_UK · 6 Jun 2007 at 12:05

dont read the post properly

Ah, my bad! :eek:

Left it there unedited anyway, just as reference for everyone else

I suspect if you ran it on an oxygen mixed with fuel, you'd just get an explosion instead which would not do anyone any good and would wreck the engine fairly terminally