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Salt Water System Could Generate Hydrogen
March 18th, 2009 by Lisa Zyga Enlarge
In this illustration of the system, salt water flows through a rectangular pipe under the influence of a perpendicular magnetic field, B0.
The Lorentz force causes the charged sodium and chlorine ions to accumulate near the metal plates on the sides of the pipe, generating a constant electric field, E. Image credit: R. De Luca.

(PhysOrg.com) -- The idea of generating hydrogen from salt water has often been claimed to work effectively. However, the systems proposed so far generally require a much greater energy input than the energy they produce, making them impractical for energy generation.
Now, a recently revived system may be able to cheaply generate a small amount of power.

Salt Water System Could Generate Hydrogen

In the proposal, physicist Roberto De Luca from the University of Salerno in Italy has suggested that flowing salt water could generate an electromotive force, which in turn could generate an electric power output. In his theoretical analysis, he considers letting salt water (containing sodium and chlorine ions) run through a rectangular pipe that has two metal electrodes on the sides, under the influence of a perpendicular magnetic field. In this set-up, the Lorentz force acts on the sodium and chlorine ions in the salt water, creating a Faraday voltage across the two electrodes, and producing an electromotive force.