(OT) How does he do it?

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net wrote: I would like to see steam engines make a big come

Quite a few years ago there was a made-for-TV movie about Howard Hughes. I know it was a movie that glorified everything, but in it Mr. Hughes was inspecting the steamer car that was just about ready for production. The head mechanic told him that the car would do zero to (whatever, I forgot the exact speed) in 20 seconds. He went on to also tell him about all the wonderful features that this car had and all the plumbing needed to keep this car cool. About this time, Howard Hughes picks up a crowbar and throws it at the car. It punctures the door and a 20 foot burst of steam comes back at the thrower. Mr. Hughes walks away from the car and all he says is "scrap the steamer project".

Call me old fashioned, or whatever,,,, I love steam engines. cuhulin

You arent going to "burn" salt water with radio waves. But you can heat the heck out of it. If you heated it enough, you couild disassociate some amount of it into hydrogen and oxygen. And you could filter the hydrogen through, perhaps, a hot platinum film.

But you have still not solved the problem of energy required to generate the radio waves.

A steam engine could make good sense. My wife and I recently went on a steamboat tour of Caddo Lake. The steam engine was made in Fredricksburg, Texas, and uses anything that will burn as fuel. Not a bad start.

Lear gave up on a steam car. Maybe it is time to take another look.

Ahhhhhh,,,,,, anything that will burn hot enough can make a steam engine do it's thingy.I am not an expert on steam engines.I want to buy me an old hit n miss engine,,, just because,,, that's why. cuhulin

Ironically the technology that would have made steam cars more practical was developed by Henry Ford years later, in the design of radiators for internal combustion engines.

Sure, you still would have had to wait for the thing to come up to pressure before driving, but the lack of the transmission and the wonderful torque curve makes for a very efficient system if you don't have to spill all that used steam after the first stage cylinders.

--scott

I own a 1914 Ford Model T one seat Runabout Roadster car. cuhulin