Why can't we make water?

Simple question. Why can't we make water?

As I was pondering this question, I searched and found the following article:

Making Water From Thin Air

A company that developed technology capable of creating water out of thin air nearly anywhere in the world is now under contract to nourish U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq.

Hmmm.... why not give it to the PEOPLE of the world who have no running/clean water to drink?

The water-harvesting technology was originally the brainchild of the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which sought ways to ensure sustainable water supplies for U.S. combat troops deployed in arid regions like Iraq.

Could the paragraph above be the reason why?

But it was another company, Aqua Sciences, that developed a product on its own and was first to put a product on the market that can operate in harsh climates.

Why give it away when you can sell it?

Sher said he is "not at liberty" to disclose details of the government contracts, except that Aqua Sciences won two highly competitive bids with "some very sophisticated companies."

He also declined to comment on how the technology actually works.

"This is our secret sauce," Sher said. "Like Kentucky Fried Chicken, it tastes good, but we won't tell you what's in it."

Again, why tell people how to make their own water, when you can 'put it on the market' and own the rights to the procedure.

He did, however, provide a hint: Think of rice used in saltshakers that acts as a magnet to extract water and keeps salt from clumping.

"We figured out how to tap it in a very unique and proprietary way," Sher said. "We figured out how to mimic nature, using natural salt to extract water and act as a natural decontamination.

"Think of the Dead Sea, where nothing grows around it because the salt dehydrates everything. It's kind of like that."

If anyone perhaps can come up with a simple theory of how it might work, that would be great

The rest of the article can be found here

Great freakin' post man. Why hasn't anyone applauded this man.

We SHOULD be able to make water. Yes, synthesize water from base molecules. Here's why:

We can synthesize nuclear radioactive elements which are precursors and ingredients for depleted uranium and nuclear weaponry, but we cant combine hydrogren and oxygen under controlled conditions? This is crazy.

We should make water for all the thirsty people.

Now if only we can make WINE .. ahh yes.. that would be the ticket, and to make fish and bread multiply by the hundreds, we'd be on to some Jesus action!

[edit on 9/5/2007 by runetang]

reply to post by runetang


Well, we can make water. Perhaps the easiest way to produce water through chemical reactions is to burn hydrogen gas. But, hydrogen rises, so you don't find it floating around on earth. So, to the best of my knowledge, currently the easiest way to get hydrogen gas requires water and an electrolyzer. Quite a conundrum.

Also complicating the situation is the fact that hydrogen is highly flammable.

Read the friggin Mother Earth News. They have had a humidifier water fountain available for sale for at least 25 years. It can make a liter a day (and this is old old old tech, I haven't subscribed for years and years. So I am not sure if it is still on the market.) This magazine may be out of print. I'm not sure. But they recommended that you place it in an unwalled portion of your basement for maximum results.

Those darn liberal hippie sustainable types. Gosh, they are out of touch. Some of them don't even eat animals.

Did some more research and found out about another product that can separate water from the atmosphere. It can roughly make about 7500 liters from a device that's about 4 meters square.

Making water out of thin air
Anna Salleh
ABC Science Online


Friday, 2 March 2007

sky
Could a wind turbine that sucks water out of the air supply enough water for the whole world? (Image: iStockphoto)
A wind-driven device could provide an unlimited water supply by harvesting water from the air, says its Australian inventor.

But critics are asking if it's too good to be true.

Dr Max Whisson, a retired medical specialist turned inventor, says he has designed a highly efficient wind turbine that can run a refrigeration system to cool air and condense moisture from it.

"The wind carries in the water and [provides] the power required to separate that water from the wind," says Whisson, who is based in Perth.

He says there is a huge amount of water in the atmosphere that is replaced every few hours. This means the whole world could just use water from the air without disrupting the environment.

Whisson says the system would even harvest significant amounts of water in areas with low humidity.

He says a 4 metre square device could extract an average 7500 litres of water a day.

In his design, moisture-laden air enters the system and is cooled by a drop in pressure behind the wind turbine blades, says Whisson.

The air then flows into a chamber containing refrigerated metal plates covered by a non-wettable surface that causes water droplets to run off immediately into a collection point.

Source

I also found this article showing how the Canadian Army can separate water from fuel exhaust in their vehicles.

WASHINGTON -- The Army is nearing the end of testing a pump that will make potable water from vehicle exhaust.

Doug Snowden, an engineer from Hamilton Sunstrans, displayed the two-part pump at the Army's Tank and Automotive Command booth at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual convention in Washington, D.C., Oct. 6.

"All we're simply doing is recovering the water that's present in the fuel," Snowden said.

Source

It just makes me angry how the military is fine with this new technology, and it is in fact ready to be deployed as they're using it already! Why not show 3rd world countries, (or other area in need of water desperately), how this works and perhaps they can start making water themselves.

Again.... control the knowledge/information = control of the masses.

Making water is easy - just expensive.

The cost of manufacturing it from hydrogen and oxygen, either in their pure forms, or from air, is more expensive than purifying and transporting sea water.

Water is often made in cases where the cost is justified, such as in satelite fuel cells and spacecraft. The reaction of hydrogen and oxygen to make water give off huge amounts of heat as a byproduct - enough to turn or power the satelites.

Students even make it in university labs as an experiment. It's just really expensive.

Would it not be far easier and cheaper to desalinate the ocean water? I don't know anything about desalination, but it seems to me that we have enough water on this planet already, we just need to get the salt out.

You guys are seriously over-thinking this. In Boy Scouts, when I was 10 years old or so, I was taught how to make a solar still. Pretty easy stuff there.

Yahoo Search- Solar Still

Cuhail

Aah, but there you're collecting it from the atmosphere, not making it...

hey genious, what do you think the army is doing with the invention mentioned in the OP?

You could make a water concentrate, easier to transport over distances then you just add water.

Originally posted by Now_Then
You could make a water concentrate, easier to transport over distances

It's called ice.

[edit on 16-10-2007 by Saurus]

reply to post by Saurus


If I was in a picky mood I'd say "Actually Ice has a larger volume than water"

But as I'm in a malicious mood I'll say "Actually Ice has a larger volume than water [SNIP]


REMOVED UNCESSEARY REMARK...

Mod Note: General ATS Discussion Etiquette – Please Review This Link.


Since I'm in a MOD mood.

[edit on 16-10-2007 by elevatedone]

Originally posted by icybreeze
hey genious, what do you think the army is doing with the invention mentioned in the OP?

Just a bit of advice: if you are going to call someone a genius sarcastically, you may want to spell the word correctly.

Back on topic, I like the concentrate idea.

Actually Ice has a larger volume than water

You are, of course, absolutely correct.

I was trying (and failed dismally) to be funny...

Water can be created from nothing with your refrigirator just from air, it will just create ice what is practicly frozen water.
So I don't see what the big discovery is about.



[edit on 16-10-2007 by pepsi78]

No, a lot of people aren't getting the idea. Pulling water out of it's vapor form in the air is not creating water, it is collecting it.

I imagine we could infact create water, but the energy costs would be counter productive.

Originally posted by Now_Then
You could make a water concentrate, easier to transport over distances then you just add water.

Thats pretty funny- dehydrated water. What would you use to hydrate it with? (Not being sarcastic or anything)

Anyway- I've always thought the same thing for YEARS. Cant we just MAKE water?

Seen a program people living on top of a cliff, sort of nomad goat hearders I think had a long sheet of fine netting, in the cool air morning and evening they could hang it up on a series of poles along the cliff top. The wind coming over the mountains picked up loads of water vapour and it formed into droplets in the net and collected in a trough at the bottom. If they were smart they should of sold it to stuped toffs at 30 quid a litre