The New Zealand version of 60 Minutes has devoted a segment to one Steve Ryan, a young "Mr. Clean" look-alike in Auckland who claims to have invented a water-based fuel, which he uses to power his Suzuki motorcycle. You can watch the segment here. Ryan's web site is here.
The TV crew brought in a mechanic to examine the bike. The engine is ordinary (except for the carburetor) and there is no hidden fuel supply -- at least, none that the mechanic could find. The fuel is water that has been subejcted to a form of electrolysis. Ryan claims that the bike runs on the hydrogen in H20.
Do I believe that this is possible? No. Every gut instinct screams "Hoax!"
However, hoaxes are interesting in and of themselves -- to me, at least. I'd like to know how this one has been accomplished. I would also like to know what the motive could be. Ryan does not ask for investors. People who lie are common; people who lie for no reason (art for art's sake, as it were) are rarities.
Many people have made similar claims in the past. I first heard the legend of the "Magic Motor" -- the engine that could run nearly forever on some extremely common substance -- when I was a boy. Today, competing "inventors" claim to have accomplished the same miracle. Indeed, Ryan -- hoaxer or no -- may have drawn inspiration from the "plans" found here.
2 comments:
as soon as this guy finds a way to purify sea water, he just might have something.
even then, it's a bit alarming. do we really want to make drinking water the commodity for power when water is itself becoming so scarce in many places, and not due to be abundant anywhere with global warming?
seems more and more we might have to make our most radical adjustment to how much we really need to be moving around so far and so fast, and how much of all this luxury we really need.
maybe consider finding a way to be content with what we have?
If you want a quick laugh, check out this site that came up in your google ads next to this article:
http://www.savefuel.ca/
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