...relating to the law of conservation of energy.Essentially, you much consume some energy (electrical, in the case of hydrolysis) to break the molecular bonds of water. The resulting ions are pulled to the separate electrodes, where the extra electrons in the O-- tend to flow with the current toward the cathode and wind up attaching themselves to a free proton (H+) to balance the hydrogen out. The individul H atoms then bond to one another, producing H2, the gas you want. These processes all lock energy into the new molecular bonds. The H2 then gets sucked along the intake where it gets combined with...guess what...O2 from the atmosphere in the combustion reaction (effectively leaning the mixture). So, Ash's point is correct: the thermal energy released by burning (oxidizing) the H2 in the combustion chamber cannot exceed the electrical energy used to tear the hydrogen away from water in the first place. While this is true, it is not necessarily the case that you cannot draw more power from the motor in this manner. I would assume that some of the alternator's current goes unused during a relatively large percentage of driving time...this process may just be making use of normally squandered electrical energy to generate the H2.
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