AdadlaA.104 net.space utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ARPAVAX:CAD:teklabs!tekmdp!dadlaB!dadlaA!steve Fri Apr 2 12:22:14 1982 Re: Another source of hydrogen I am posting this because I have heard that mail from USENET doesn't make it onto ARPANET correctly. REM@MIT-MC suggested using free electrons from a negatively charged electrode and free protons from a positively charged electrode to make hydrogen for a space city. Sorry - you don't understand the physics of the situation. A positively charged electrode has less than its normal complement of electrons. It doesn't have free protons. Hadrons don't pull the kind of stunts that leptons do about wandering around. In essence you are suggesting using a simple battery to induce fission of low-atomic-weight elements. Far more energy than that is necessary.... Steve Den Beste ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.