[TheForge] hot portable atmospheric forges may need propylene

[Keporter at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/1/2005 7:36:39 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
crimsonkil at lycos.com writes:

Now the  dumb question:  Can't you separate water into O2 and H2 and funnel 
the  gases into the burner nozzle?  Battery charger, fish tank, hood and  fan?

-Chris K.



Chris
The question is not so dumb at all. So called water torches, mainly used by  
jewelers, do just that. However, they are hooked up in a particular fashion so 
 as to create atomic hydrogen. Before you get out the lead lined suit, atomic 
 hydrogen isn't radioactive. It is simply in a peculiar state of energy. In 
fact,  unlike diatomic hydrogen, single hydrogen atoms are loaded with 
potential  energy, far beyond what can be released from chemical bonding with an 
oxygen  atom. You could say that this energy is borrowed from the electrical 
current,  and is released as the hydrogen "plasma" is burned. In other words, when  
the atomic hydrogen is destabilized--as it chemicaly bonds with an oxygen atom 
 and another hydrogen atom--the "borrowed" energy from the electrical current 
is  released. The resulting heat is about twice what diatomic hydrogen can 
create  when oxidized.
 
The most peculiar thing about atomic hydrogen is that it is very stable,  
until it bumps into sufficient energy to begin the "burning" process. This  form 
of hydrogen is pumped right along with the oxygen that was separated,  in the 
same hose! I wouldn't care to try that with diatomic  hydrogen.  
 
Boy, is there going to be a furor over this description! Have I mangled the  
scientific niceties or what? That's OK though, scientists and patent offices  
have been fighting over this one in several countries for decades. 
Descriptions  of "why for" and "what happened" range from the extremes of so called 
Brown's  Gas to the very prosaic and utterly practical hydrogen torch of the 
forties  (from which camp, my view is taken). This was the for-runner of today's 
plasma  torch, and the explanation given of why it works makes better sense than 
any  other view I've read thus far.
Mike P.