The Challenges Preventing the Development of Water-Powered Cars

 

Henry D. Villa

Department of English, The City College of New York

ENGL 21007: Writing for Engineering

Professor Kristine Slentz

February 28th, 2025

 

 The Challenges Preventing the Development of Water-Powered Cars

Abstract

The idea of a water-powered car is nothing new and can go as far back as the 1800s , but has seen its highest popularity ever since Stanley Meyer ( inventor of a possible water-powered car) claimed that “A vehicle powered by water can drive across the country on only 75 liters of pure water”. Although its promising ‘results’ , its achievability seems questionable. Dr. James Orgill, a Chemical Engineer, researched this idea in a video he published on his Youtube channel, “The Action Lab”, “A Car That Runs on Water! They Said It Was Impossible! (because it is)’. In his experiment Orgill reacted a hydrogen gas molecule with an oxygen gas molecule via a fuel cell to create energy to power a fan. Then Orgill tested a small model car powered by these gases and got similar results. Although successful in powering both the car and fan, Orgill argued this practice would not work due to it going against the first law of thermodynamics, “Energy can’t be created or destroyed, but it can change form”. Specifically, this process requires more energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen than the energy received when recombing, essentially creating energy from nothing. The key results in his finding are that water is not a sustainable fuel source due to the energy imbalance.

Fossil fuels are estimated to be depleted by the year 2060(StanFord University), a search for an alternative, much cleaner, energy source has become a top priority. One of the many alternative fuels considered to be ‘effective’ is water(H2O), as it’s a renewable resource and cleaner for the environment compared to fossil fuels. Although many online sources ‘claim’ to have created an engine that runs on pure water, these engines are often assisted by an additional energy source that allows water to be converted to fuel. An experiment conducted by James Orgill, a chemical engineer, aims to provide an explanation as to why it’s so difficult to create a water-powered engine that’s better for the environment than a traditional gas engine in terms of carbon emissions released in the environment. To add on, Orgill aims to debunk the reports that claim to have created engines powered on pure water, stating that “it’s practically impossible, and the experiments that seem truthful are not what they seem.” It is theorized that water-powered engines go against the first law of thermodynamics by requiring more energy to split the H2O atoms than what you get back when the hydrogen is burned, resulting in an overall energy loss.  

The following MATERIALS used by James Orgill:

– A gas molecule of Hydrogen and oxygen

–  Miniature solar panels

– Graduated cylinders filled with water

-Tanks in the graduated cylinder to contain the hydrogen gas molecule and oxygen gas molecule

-Fuel cell/electrochemical cell(converts chemical energy into electrical energy)

-Electrodes that connect with Motor wires

-Benchtop model car 

-Volt amp meter

 

Methods:

Orgill started his experiment by trying to power a fan by reacting hydrogen gas with oxygen in a controlled reaction to create water (h2o). He starts by measuring 10mL of oxygen and hydrogen gas, which he contains in small tanks and later puts in graduated cylinders, adding an oxygen gas tank to one and a hydrogen gas tank to the other, and submerging the gas tanks in water. Afterwards, Orgill connects both the hydrogen and oxygen gas tanks to a full cell to create energy from water. He does this to ensure that the gases will combine in a controlled reaction by taking turns when reacting rather than “hydrogen reacting with oxygen all at once”( James Orgill), therefore being able to create electricity to power the fan. Next, he attaches the fuel cell to the motor wires via electrodes, creating a flow of energy between the fuel cell and the fan.

Orgill then created a small model car powered by hydrogen and oxygen to replicate his previous experiment. In this experiment he created a ‘Hydrogen fuel cell car’. A car like this “stores hydrogen in a high pressure tank”. The hydrogen is then fed to the fuel cell that generates electricity when the hydrogen reacts with the oxygen in the air” according to Orgill. In a fuel cell, energy is created as hydrogen and oxygen gas react because electrons are more attracted to oxygen due to its greater electronegativity, pulling hydrogen electrons closer to the oxygen atom, thus creating a flow of energy between the two. Additionally, in a Hydrogen Fuel Cell, the oxygen side is touching the platinum metal that’s connected through the wires to the metal on the other side, touching the hydrogen gas(Orgill), essentially pulling the hydrogen from the left to the oxygen right side through the wire, which could  generate electricity. 

Results: 

 As a result of his experiments, Orgill manages to power the fan on hydrogen and oxygen alone. Seen when examining the volume of the hydrogen and oxygen gas tanks decrease, as the chemical energy is converted to electricity to power the fan. Orgill got similar results when he used hydrogen and oxygen to power the car; The car was moving. The results of this experiment are in favor of water being used as an alternative fuel source

 

However, a key component that is not addressed in experiments similar to Orgill’s, claiming to have created a water-powered engine is that such invention violates the first law of thermodynamics: “Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred”. And those who claim to have otherwise are either lying to their audience or not stating the entire truth. In order to confirm why the first law of thermodynamics proves to be a challenge for water powered cars, Orgill uses a Volt Amp meter. He uses this device to see how much energy is required to split 10mL of Water(h2o) into hydrogen and oxygen. It took 8 seconds to make 10mL at 5 amps and 3.5 volts to split H2O;“That’s 120J”, while it took him 100 seconds to use that 10mL at 0.5 volts and 0.5 amps ;“That’s 25J”. In this experiment, it took 120 J of energy to split the water atom apart into hydrogen and oxygen, however, when he used that energy, he got 25 J of energy back. “Energy_out\Energy_in = 17.9%. There was ⅕ of the energy given back than what was put in, so it required more energy to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen than the energy that is created when hydrogen and oxygen are combined again.

Discussion

From these experiments, It can be concluded that a water powered engine is practically impossible because the splitting of oxygen atoms requires more energy than what you get back when recombined, violating the first law of thermodynamics. Seen when recombining the hydrogen and oxygen gave 25 J back than the amount required to split the water 125 J, However, water can ‘technically be used as energy’, but it needs an alternative energy source to provide assistance ; Like the sun or wind. Although using this type of energy may seem beneficial for the environment because water, the sun, and wind are renewable, it might be the contrary according to Orgill. He states, “By making this ‘clean’ hydrogen gas that can be used to power an engine that makes nothing but water as the exhaust, you create a whole bunch of CO2 in the process”. So, even if sustainable, using water as a fuel alternative will produce more Co2 annually than if you burned natural gases that create the hydrogen gas.

Despite our search for a much needed alternative to fossil fuels, pure water is not what we need, yet. However, these experiments conducted by James Orgill by “The Action Lab” should not discredit previous experiments surrounding the ‘hydrogen fuel cells’ as it can be potentially useful in the future, but only when we as a society switch from using fossil fuels as our primary source of energy to nuclear energy. 

 

References 

Orgill J. (2024, July 6th) “A Car That Runs on Water! They Said It Was Impossible! (because it is)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK0dZFxaRl8