[Vwdiesel] Heads up

[William J Toensing]

I heard a story several years ago about  an engine that would run on water. I question whether it is true but repeat it as best I can. The engine supposedly was made out of ceramics with no cooling system, so would run very hot, so hot it would separate the hydrogen from the oxygen, which they would then burn in the engine. The problem was they were unable to figure out how to throttle the engine.
I also have heard the old "urban legend" about the person who would drive in to a gas station, fill his gas tank with water, drop a pill in the gas tank & drive away. However, when the auto was in its infancy it used acetylene lamps for lighting. Acetylene was made by dropping some substance (don't recall what) into water to make a flammable gas. Why couldn't a car be made to run on this gas? I also recall a toy cannon I had as a kid (and still have) in which you put a small amount of water in the cannon, then a small amount of  "bauxite", I think it was called, in the rear of the cannon. As it turned it dropped the bauxite into the water which produced a flammable gas. You then hit a button which would cause a flint to spark inside the cannon, which would then go boom. Why wouldn't a car run on this gas?