Iron Instead of Petrol

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Recommended: Alternative energy vs fossil fuel

The purpose of this report is to provide a background briefing to explain how and why iron might be used instead of petrol as a fuel for the combustion engine of cars. The report will also provide an overview of laboratory tests to see if iron may be used as fuel for a car design.
The report will also list the background, hypothesis, method, results, discussion and a conclusion.

BACKGROUND
Fuel is a combustible matter used to maintain fire, as coal, wood, oil, or gas, in order to create heat or energy. The following criteria can be used to help define what a ‘good fuel’ for internal combustion engines is;
• A high level of efficiency
• A high energy output
• Being environmentally friendly
• Able to afford it
• Being renewable
• Easy to access
• No engine damage
• Fast refueling
• Light Weight

Benefits Drawbacks
Relatively concentrated and you can travel many hundred km with one full tank of petrol The supply of petrol is decreasing and we will one day run out of it
It is highly available Because of the high demand and decreasing supply, the price of petrol is increasing.
It is fairly cheap It greatly affects the environment as carbon is produced when petrol is burned.
It is not difficult to make - it just has to be distilled and no waste is produced Petrol can be much better used to create other products like plastics and chemicals
It is easy to carry around Wars and international disputes have formed from petrol
It is fairly safe to store Petrol is bad for the environment as it emits greenhouse gases when used, it is non-renewable and it is very dangerous.
The supply of petrol is decreasing and we will one day run out of it
If we look at the drawbacks we can see that we will eventually run out of hydrocarbons and will require...

... middle of paper ...

...iron has taken over from the idea of burning iron to produce energy. The reaction would happen inside the engine of a car fed with formic acid to allow the generated hydrogen to burn and power the car.
To test if iron may be used as fuel for a car design we used 4 hypotheses which included variables such as iron filings, increased oxygen, increased heat and a combination of all produced little evidence that this would be an efficient way to power an internal combustion engine.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fuel

http://www.iun.edu/~cpanhd/C101webnotes/chemical%20reactions/combustion.html

http://web.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v39_1_06/article18.shtml

http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/211_fall2002.web.dir/David_Giessel/basics.html

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/2011/10/2011-1118-iron-formic-acid-hydrogen

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