I know PopSci makes its money from ads, but...

[shardian]

I understand magazines make their money from ads. I find it insulting that magazines that claim to be credible like Popular Science allow blatant scams to buy ad space. Note, if you read Popsci, you are well aware that the last 10-20 pages are full of "miracle cures" and "magic machines".

I was reading the magazine during break today, and came across a full page ad for the following:
http://www.preignitioncc.com/default/index.htm

To cut a long story short....PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE SCAM.

Yes, you can separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. You can do the experiment at home with a frikking coke bottle. The thing is, the process is grossly inefficient - especially when you throw in an entire innefficient automotive engine system.

Sorry, just had to rant a bit.

[SavannahLion]

"Crack" the fuel molecules? Even if that worked, wouldn't that lower the octane rating forcing the engine to run faster and hotter? Where the hell do you store the water for the Hydrogen/oxygen?

Whatever. Why do these scams always use photos from the same photo shoot and make them out to be from different sources?
Look in the background, it's the same garage. Yet the page layout gives the strong implication that it's  different people in different locales.



It never fails. 

Anyways, PopSci have always had those kind of ads in the back. I remember as a little kid I would drool over the personal helicopter pack (later the jet pack) plans for $29.95 (not having $29.95 to spend probably saved me from that). I remember my father would peruse the ads to find out what "secret spy" stuff the government really was capable of. Just about flipped out when I bought a jack splitter for our phone line, thinking it was something put there by major corporations.  Ads for "rare and seeming impossible" plans for Tesla stuff. Submarines, airplanes, drills, veggie guns. Those were good times.   

Hell, I remember comic books with some really wacky stuff for sale. Ads for a potato gun right alongside ads for Sea Monkies, popcorn rocks, spy devices and UFO radios.   

Consider it a kind of touring test to weed out the morons from the smart ones. The smart ones move on. The dumb ones pay money.

[shardian]

"Crack" the fuel molecules? Even if that worked, wouldn't that lower the octane rating forcing the engine to run faster and hotter? Where the hell do you store the water for the Hydrogen/oxygen?

Yeah, I disregarded the "PICCO" without investigation as soon as it said " Invest now in the 'We're leading you on that this is cold fusion' fuel cell and we'll send you a quote for the PICCO when it is ready. Nothing screams scam better than that. Still, it would seem that by "breaking down" the fuel before combustion would release energy, thus robbing the engine of combustion energy.

Even if that box did use water electrolysis, there is no way it could produce enough hydrogen to make a difference. And even if it did, they in no way address how the hydrogen gas is injected into the combustion chamber. My senior project in college was to try and design a cost effective (because my school was cheap) method of converting a combustion engine to run on hydrogen gas.

The most efficient way is high pressure direct injection to the combustion chamber. That is a very invasive procedure. Technically, you can simply replace the injectors, add a hydrogen/nitrogen tank system and be off in no time. That has been done in many cases.

This in no way addresses the fact that a standard gasoline engine cannot run on straight hydrogen - preignition and knock would destroy the engine. Nitrogen has to be introduced to retard the combustion process - thus negating the benefits of hydrogen use by introducing environmentally unfriendly NOX.

[lanman31337]

Same vehicle as well.

[protokatie]

thus negating the benefits of hydrogen use by introducing environmentally unfriendly NOX.

HAHAHAHAHA!!! I got a laugh out of that! (Hmm maybe I shouldnt stand so close to the exaust... Or just buy some whip-its instead)...