Thorium Powered Car ? A great idea ? Perhaps Not.

[n2ize]

A year or so ago the concept of a thorium powered car made a splash in the news. What could be better than a car that will run for 100 years on just 8 grams of thorium. Sounds too good to be true. Well here is one take on it that seems to say, no... not such a good idea and not very practical or likely.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=568iDYn8pjc

[W9JEF]

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Thorium???

She could hardly sit down. :yes:

[K0RGR]

I think renewable energy and better storage technology will be the fuel of the future. But there will always be somebody trying to sell snake oil.

[W9JEF]

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Back in the 50's we read about these cars of the future, powered on an "atomic pill."

The illustrations showed the traffic flowing on elevated highways, sans the orange barrels.

[n2ize]

I think renewable energy and better storage technology will be the fuel of the future. But there will always be somebody trying to sell snake oil.

Yes, that is much more likely. The guy who made the video I linked to is a scientist and he feels the thorium car is neither feasible nor even possible, nor efficient even if it were possible. Too many drawbacks even if it were real. Then I remember another idea which would use water to power a car. Basically it involved using an RF source to provide enough energy to hydrolize the water into hydrogen and oxygen which would then be burned to [produce energy. Some members of the press who obviously knew nothing about Physics and thermodynamics claimed this is definitely the breakthrough we've all been waiting for. of course the problem lies in the fact that you would need to provide more energy to break the molecular bonds to free the hydrogen and oxygen than you would get out when it's burned. So in essence you are providing more energy in (in the form of electricity) than you are getting out via combustion of the hydrogen/oxygen mix. Might as well just use the electricity directly to run a motor which runs the car. Which is essentially what the electric car is all about. The electric car is a great idea but... it doesn't reduce CO2 emissions if the electricity used to charge the batteries is produced by burning coal, oil or gas. However if the energy used to charge the car is produced by renewable energy or atomic energy then we've got something that provides transportation and has far less impact on the environment.

[HUGH]

Sadly, journalists who come up with these sensational ideas have little or no scientific or technical knowledge. They are often dab hands at plagiarism.

[W3WN]

Oh, I don't know.

A thorium powered car would have it's advantages. After all, you wouldn't need headlights... it would glow in the dark... :twisted:

[NQ6U]

Oh, I don't know.

A thorium powered car would have it's advantages. After all, you wouldn't need headlights... it would glow in the dark... :twisted:

As would you.

[W3WN]

As would you.Well, there is that. But think of the savings on your electric bill! And, no more need for a tanning salon!

Ah, the possibilities are endless, endless I tell you...

[kb2vxa]

THIS is thorium power!

[XE1/N5AL]

If this wonder car was to become a reality, I can imagine the attack ads that the corporate petroleum concerns would air on TV.

One TV commercial would feature Little Timmy comfortably napping in the back seat of his parent's car, while being driven to the amusement park. Unbeknown to the parents, the boy is being irradiated by the thorium due to a broken seal on it's containment vessel. To compound the danger, Little Timmy is inhaling radon gas, which is one of thorium's decay products. Many people have never heard of thorium, but everybody has heard of that bad boy: radon gas. Sure, the dangers would be completely over-blown. But, just a little bit of doubt would sway many consumers away from purchasing this atomic car.

[n2ize]

If this wonder car was to become a reality, I can imagine the attack ads that the corporate petroleum concerns would air on TV.

One TV commercial would feature Little Timmy comfortably napping in the back seat of his parent's car, while being driven to the amusement park. Unbeknown to the parents, the boy is being irradiated by the thorium due to a broken seal on it's containment vessel. To compound the danger, Little Timmy is inhaling radon gas, which is one of thorium's decay products. Many people have never heard of thorium, but everybody has heard of that bad boy: radon gas. Sure, the dangers would be completely over-blown. But, just a little bit of doubt would sway many consumers away from purchasing this atomic car.

And radon decays into polonium. So, in an enclosed space where there is a lot of radon and poor ventilation objects exposed to the radon gas eventually become coated with radioactive polonium atoms. Of course if the car had a suitable containment chambre this wouldn't be an issue but unfortunately the chambre would have to be made out of heavy layers of lead (or perhaps depleted uranium) to stop the gamma rays. Thus far I think this car has already suffered a meltdown on the drawing board. :lol:

[NQ6U]

The amount of radiation released by elemental thorium (named after the Norse god Thor, BTW) is so small that a layer of aluminum foil would provide enough shielding.

[W3WN]

The amount of radiation released by elemental thorium (named after the Norse god Thor, BTW) is so small that a layer of aluminum foil would provide enough shielding.Spoilsport.

[KG4CGC]

http://www.iflscience.com/technology/tesla-release-electric-car-patents-public

[n2ize]

The amount of radiation released by elemental thorium (named after the Norse god Thor, BTW) is so small that a layer of aluminum foil would provide enough shielding.

True. However such is not the case if you are causing thorium atoms to undergo a nuclear reaction. In which case things get messy gamma radiation will be produced which requires a lot more than a small ayer of aluminum. But the "inventor" claims the thorium never undergoes any kind of nuclear reaction. So where is the energy coming from ? Theoretically you could initiate a nuclear reaction by applying the focused energy of a very powerful laser at thorium atoms but that isn't what he claims to be doing since he argues that the system is always sub critical in the sense that no actual nuclear reactions are taking place Besides the laser required to do this would have to be extremely powerful so, why then not use it directly to boil the water to run the turbine. Unless he is claiming that the thorium in it's non critical state with no nuclear reactions taking place is actually driving the laser (i.e. a quite powerful sub critical thorium laser) ... in which case he will receive recognition and make millions for the invention of such a thorium laser in and of itself since it does not already exist. But he is not really claiming that either since he claims that his device produces no coherent light which is what a laser does. So what has still not been explained is, where is the energy coming from that will drive this laser which will in turn boil water and in turn drive a steam turbine ?

This leads myself, and many others, to remain very skeptical. It sounds more to me as yet another "free energy" idea to draw the attention of clueless investors and venture capital. If so it wouldn;t be the first time investors threw money at ideas that never worked nor had any chance of working. On the other hand maybe he is on the brink of something new and completely revolutionary. However that is doubtful.

[kb2vxa]

"One TV commercial would feature Little Timmy comfortably napping in the back seat of his parent's car," a Ford Pinto. I don't have to tell you what happens next. At GM we put safety first, like designing a new version of a tried and true ignition switch. Let me tell you folks, it's one killer of an idea.

[NQ6U]

All true, John, and you have a good reason to be skeptical. In reality, building a thorium-powered care is unfeasible.

http://energyfromthorium.com/2014/04/13/mythology-thorium-car-thorium-plasma-batteries/

[W9JEF]

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. . . . . . . . . Better thafe than thorium.