Hydrogen + oxygen. Is it possible.

Boom! The classic potato gun harnesses the combustion of flammable vapor. Show us your combustion spud gun and discuss fuels, ratios, safety, ignition systems, tools, and more.
SNDM
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Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:20 am

A hybrid at 204x?

I know nothing of hybrids, but isnt that rather powerful (I use the term "rather" rather loosely here)

I nwas thinking of hydrogen and Oxygen as my fuel, I could get the power to electrolize it from my numerous solar panels, sure Itd be slow, but every few days I could fire it.

Storing Hydrogen for long periods of time is hard if not impossible.
Hydrogen molecules slowly slip through most if not all things.

Dont use platic to contain your Hydrogen, unless its jhust temporary, use glass or a proper metal mbottle instead.
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BigGrib
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Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:58 am

I love how DYI just throws around 204x mix like nothing, geez imagine the ammount of power and the barrel length that thing would have
Yea, that's definitely going to get you at least a tazer.
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DYI
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Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:10 am

Just in case you didn't catch it, propane fuel would liquify in the chamber at above 204x or so, depending on temperature. Until that point, since propane produces more energy per chamber volume than hydrogen, hydrogen is pointless, and an unneccesary hazard.
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tatermasher
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Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:53 am

well, if you have a car battery you could do electrolosis with an anode and a cathode (something aluminum and something copper) and just collect the gases into a ballon, but you'd have to do this every time you want to fire it off
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D_Hall
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Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:07 pm

Given that the OP hasn't answered the "Why can't you get propane?" question I'm leaning towards the answer being, "Because my mom would start asking questions (whereas hydrogen can be had via electrolosis... no questions!)."

Bad juju.
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Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:10 pm

Well he can't get hairspray either, apparently.

I think just straight hydrogen would be sufficiently powerful for most launchers. But I guess if you're doing electrolosis, why waste the oxygen, right?
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Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:40 pm

You can always just use a cheapo butane lighter. For $0.99 you get pretty much everything you need (assuming you have some wire laying around that you can strip the insulation from for the feed tubing.)
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bobrofilin
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Tue Mar 18, 2008 6:36 am

Because it will be like the camp, and i don't want yo return home to get fuel for my gun. I will be in the forest? near the river, and i need to make the fuel on the place. So propane with oxygen will be tho most powerful gas, or hydrogen. And i have metall pipes, so what i need to do with them? Buy adapters, or weld them?
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Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:56 pm

bobrofilin wrote:Because it will be like the camp, and i don't want yo return home to get fuel for my gun. I will be in the forest? near the river, and i need to make the fuel on the place. So propane with oxygen will be tho most powerful gas, or hydrogen. And i have metall pipes, so what i need to do with them? Buy adapters, or weld them?
That writing makes my head and eyes hurt.

Like I said before, go with disposable butane lighters. A single lighter is enough for at least tens of shots from a typical sized gun.

You don't need to take oxygen with you, unless you are planning on camping on the moon.
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Tue Mar 18, 2008 7:28 pm

bobrofilin wrote:Because it will be like the camp, and i don't want yo return home to get fuel for my gun.
Let me get this straight....

You're gonna haul your spud gun camping. So along with all the food, tents, and everything else you're throwing into your car you're going to bring along a spud gun and (presumably) a sack of potatoes... And yet somehow you can't find room in that car for a 16 oz. disposable propane tank?

I call bullshit.
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Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:43 pm

I think the argument is that he doesn't want to have to worry about running out of fuel.

Don't worry, one propane tank will last you many, many shots. Probably even more than an electrolyisis rig since you need to wait for it to create hydrogen.

If it's really a problem...take two, like D_Hall said, propane cylinders aren't a huge burden.
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