[hodgepoj]

quote:Originally posted by Seeker

Hi Dr. J, I don't exactly know what this ortho & para hydrogen are.

I can help you there, Seeker. A hydorgen molecule in which the two electron spin vectors are parallel is called orthohydrogen. If the electron spin vectors are antiparallel, it is parahydrogen.

quote:
Have you ever heard of Stanley Meier ? He was an inventor who has sort of ‘cult’ following, who believe that he came up with some sort of amazing electroylsis device a few decades back .I've heard that the Xogen patents are similar to his electrolysis patents.

Nope. I've never heard of him or his device.

quote:
It sounds like this brand of electrolysis is claimed to be superior because it uses a "pulsed current". After reading through some information relating to it, the impression I got was that the pulsed current was supposed to cause the water molecules to be aligned within the electrolysis device in a particular way, so that it would require less energy to break their chemical bonds, or something along those lines.

The water molecule is polar, that is, it has a permanent dipole moment because its centers of positive and negative charge don't coincide. Unlike carbon dioxide, in which the two O atoms are opposite each other around the C atom, the two H atoms around the O atom in water are only 105 degrees apart.

The molecule looks like a Mickey Mouse head, with the two H atoms being the ears.

So a water molecule's positive end (the H end)is attracted to a negative charge and its negative end (the O end) is attracted to a positive charge.

Therefore, polar molecules such as water attract one another and are relatively difficult to separate. H2O has a boiling point of 100 degrees C whereas CO2's boiling point is only minus 79 degrees C. This is a dramatic difference in molecular stability considering that the two molecules differ by only type of atom.

So water molecules are, indeed, aligned with the electric field created in an electrolysis device, but that doesn't make their chemical bonds any easier to break.

quote:
The other impression I had come away with, was that a common problem associated with the production of hydrogen via electrolysis, was that the hydrogen molecules have a tendancy to stick to the electrodes, thus reducing the yield of hydrogen gas.

Having a dipole moment, a water molecule would stick to any charged object such as an electrode. But H and O molecules are both non-polar so they would not be attracted to the electrode. So I'm afraid your impression is erroneous.

quote:
I’ve wondered if maybe a pulsed current could set up some sort of a ‘resonance frequency’ within a water molecule, which would have the result that you would be using the same amount of electrical energy as most electrolysis methods.

Chemical bonds behave like tuning forks. They vibrate, twist, and oscillate in response to an energy input. The resonant frequency of a chemical bond depends on the masses of the bonded atoms and the strength of the bond. The H20 dipole molecule has a resonant frequency in the range 10^9 to 10^11 hertz.

This is far greater than any pulsed current could achieve but is smack dab in the middle of the microwave range. You cook food in a microwave oven by heating the water in the food. The flipping H2O molecules slam into and warm the food molecules from within.

quote:
Another comparison could be to the way in which wind, pushing on a bridge in typical fashion, may have a minimal effect on the integrity of the bridg. But if a resonance frequency is established in the timed force of the wind coming against the bridge, then the bridge may start swaying violently, and eventuallly be destroyed.

I don't know what you mean by "timed force of the wind," Seeker. A steady wind blowing on it can cause a bridge to oscillate due to a phenomenon called vortex shedding. A DC wind blowing across an obstacle creates vortexes (curling winds) at the trailing edge. These vortexes flip between CW and CCW at a frequency that depends on the wind speed and the shape and size of the obstacle. If the vottex flipping frequency approaches the resonant frequency of the obstacle, the magnitude of obstacle oscillation increases.

The most spectacular example of this was the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge in 1940. See
http://www.nwrain.net/~newtsuit/reco...ws/narrows.htm

The vortex shedding phenomenon was first discovered and understood as a result of the post-collapse analysis done at CalTech.

I enjoyed reading your message.

Dr. Paul O. Johnson
Senior Exhibit Developer
The Science Place
Dallas, Texas 75210