SafeFlame Torch Creates Fire From Water

Hey guys Ion_Turtle is back with some cool science news. This time I'm talking about fire being made from water. Now I know you have seen someone weld some metals together with a torch. (If you haven't here is a pic)




Doing this is very dangerous and not cheap. You may notice that he has a mask on his face. This keeps his eyes from being damaged by the really bright flame. Also the flame is caused by an unstable and expensive mixture called oxygen-acetylene. The amount you burn at one time can not be controlled so if you are welding a weak metal like Aluminum then you will have a lot of trouble. Also the tanks of oxygen-acetylene are highly unstable, expensive, and hard to store. This makes welding very expensive and hard.
 
Researchers all over europe are trying to change this. They are have developed a prototype of a SafeFlame. This SafeFlame uses water and electricity to make the flame. It does this by putting the water in a electrolyzer. This electrolyzer uses the electricity to split the oxygen from the hydrogen in the water. Then after they split they leave the nozzle and combine again making a flame. This flame is slightly cooler than the oxygen-acetylene flame, but it can be controlled, it is safer, it doesn't heat up the nossle, the flame is dimmer, it is much cheaper, and it still gets the job done. They are also working on making it more portable and maybe solar powered.



 

This is very important because it will welding much safer and cheaper. That is why I decided to wrie about it. I also predict that this meathod will be used more and more in the future.

Do you think this is a better meathod?
 

My person answer: Yes it is way better. There are just so many thing that it improves on. I don't see any negatives.



Links:
Article (SafeFlame pice from here)
Welding pic
oxygen-acetylene tanks