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this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2025
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And Hyundai is making hydrogen powered tanks, what a world. I wonder if hydrogen fuels poses any unique risks as compared to petrol.
It's highly explosive.
That's ... why i'm here
This is a feature, not a bug.
I mean so are the shells tank fire. If you are hit hard enough to hit the fuel cell in a tank....you have other problems.
Is petrol not?
In different ways. For example, it's very rare for a car to explode in a collision, other than in movies.
One of the reasons that make hydrogen difficult to work with in this sense is that hydrogen (H₂) molecules are so small that they can permeate most materials, such as steel. Then it can get somewhat easily to wherever there is a spark, and chaos ensues. Annoyingly you don't even need 100% Hydrogen for that to happen, as it can ignite with a concentration of just 4%.
After we stopped using Hydrogen mostly as a consequence of Hindenburg's accident, it's taken years to perfect hydrogen fuel cells to a safety standard that can be used in cars. As far as I know, its use has been limited to rockets/space propulsion otherwise (where you can just throw millions at the problem to make it safer).
Okay, I knew from texts books that H2 is small but I never thought of the real-life consequences of it being so small. Then theoretically, Helium should also be "leaky", right?
Yep, helium is even worse for leaking! It's actually the smallest noble gas and can escape through tiny pores that even hydrogen can't fit through. Thats why helium balloons deflate faster than air balloons - the atoms literally seep through the balloon material.
How does Helium fit through places that Hydrogen can't even though its bigger? Is it because Hydrogen would react with things along the way while Helium won't?
I'm also curious, I thought hydrogen was the worst in this regard.
I like your theory on hydrogen reacting as it moves through materials.
Something something hindenberg...
Well, different. You'd have highly compressed hydrogen in a cylindrical pressure vessel.
The Hindenburg just burned, actually it was mostly its highly flammable paint that caught fire. When a pressure vessel is ruptured, it explodes in a big way, or it quickly removes itself from the vehicle like a mini rocket.
Explosion wise or climate wise?
I guess both? I know climate wise the manufacture of those things cannot be climate friendly.
At the end of the day, making EV cars isn't either unfortunately...but in the grand scheme of things. Both hydrogen and EV cars are more environmentally friendly than gas powered cars.
Manufacturing of any kind always causes an environmental impact. This is the way of things.
The one thing we can't get that would mitigate the environmental costs of making stuff, is if stuff was built to last....