Salt Water a Possible Fuel?!!

Not likely. I'll take cold fusion over this.

I saw a video about this months ago, linked from some suspicious "free energy" site. It looked bogus to me. A guy, searching for a way to use the heat from radio waves to kill cancer cells, heats salt water with them and is surprised when the salt water bursts into flames. He then amazes scientists and video newsreporters who think he has invented a new energy source.

Notice he's using salt water. Regular water doesn't conduct electricity. What happens when you put a piece of metal in the microwave? It gets plenty hot—I assume from current induced in the metal by the radio waves. It heats up like the filament of a light bulb. Similarly, salt water conducting an induced current should heat up. But the current itself would also split water molecules into H2 and O. The heat would ignite the gases, releasing most of the energy put into the water by the radio waves.

Seems pretty obvious that he must be putting more energy into his radio transmitter than he's getting out from burning the hydrogen and oxygen. But most people have no idea what "conservation of energy " means, and, despite their experience with microwave ovens, don't put invisible energy in the same class as visible flames and heat. I expected to not hear any more about this. Imagine my surprise at now reading about it at a legitimate science site...!

Physorg.com:

Radio Frequencies Help Burn Salt Water

(AP) -- An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century. John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn.

The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel.

Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist, has held demonstrations at his State College lab to confirm his own observations.

The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen, Roy said. Once ignited, the hydrogen will burn as long as it is exposed to the frequencies, he said.

The discovery is "the most remarkable in water science in 100 years," Roy said.

"This is the most abundant element in the world. It is everywhere," Roy said. "Seeing it burn gives me the chills."

Roy will meet this week with officials from the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense to try to obtain research funding.

The scientists want to find out whether the energy output from the burning hydrogen - which reached a heat of more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit - would be enough to power a car or other heavy machinery.

"We will get our ideas together and check this out and see where it leads," Roy said. "The potential is huge."

I am not a chemist at a University. I find it hard to believe that Roy is, either...