Science

If water is made up of 2 atoms of hydrogen & 1 atom of oxygen, then why can’t we manufacture water?

We can! Here is a giant water-making machine in action, making 1.8 tons of artificial water every second:

At this moment, 200 kg hydrogen and 1600 kg oxygen is mixed every second in a combustion chamber and ignited. This creates a lot of thrust, and you get super-superheated water vapour as exhaust.


The problem is mostly where to get the oxygen and hydrogen from. As it happens, it’s super-easy: all you need is electricity and water:

You can. But where are you going to get the Hydrogen?

Oxygen is pretty easy to get. It’s in the air around us. So if you have a source of hydrogen then you can burn it and get water. But while hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, most of the hydrogen on Earth is already in water.

The easiest way to get it is through electrolysis of water. But there’s really no point in electrolyzing water to get hydrogen to burn to get more water. Really the only use for this technology is in space craft. A hydrogen cell can be used to provide both water and electricity. Simplifying logistics a little.

Related Posts

If a modern US submarine was teleported into space, assuming all hatches were shut, how long would/could the crew survive?

I suppose it depends on what sort of submarine it was. The sub itself would be in no danger of structural failure since a hull designed to withstand…

If you dropped a piece of ice at 0 °C into water of 0 °C, what would happen to ice?

Great question. Let us assume that the system is closed, and that no heat comes in the system or leaves the system. Your question clearly displays that you…

Why didn’t anyone come up with an artificial diamond?

They have. They’ve been able to do this for many years now. The problem is artificial GEM grade diamonds. Diamonds, regular diamonds, are common as hell. They’re used…

If the Earth stopped rotating, would we feel a difference since we’re so used to it spinning at really high speeds?

You would notice the difference for a fraction of a second and then you would cease to notice anything at all….because you would be dead. Imagine you are…

What is the largest roadblock scientists face in devising a theory of everything?

Gravity. Stupid, idiotic gravity. We know there is gravity. The evidence supports it. There are excellent theories to explain how it works. There’s even a “law” – a…

Why do we need an escape velocity to lift a rocket into space? Can’t a rocket just fly up at a constant low speed i.e. 60 mph and eventually reach space?

Well, in theory, you are right. In fact, your imaginary ship doesn’t need to go 60 mph, it could go 1 mph, so long as it could keep…