Magnesium Hydroxide.

Many hydroxides can give you (chemical) burns.

On Jan 5, 2008, at 2:20 PM, Michael Elliott wrote:

> Oh yeah, that makes sense. There'd be no need for replacement
> cartridges
> if a catalyst was used to turn the water into hydrogen and oxygen,
> since
> catalysts are not consumed in the process as I understand it.
> Electricity
> I know, chemistry I don't.
>
> How toxic is Mg(OH)2? And, for that matter, how /is/ Mg(OH)2
> pronounced,
> anyway?
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
> On 1/5/2008 10:44 AM John Bange wrote:
>
>>> 14-hour run time on one cartridge, fuel
>>> cell technology (runs on water which is catalyzed into hydrogen
>>> which
>>> powers a fuel cell).
>>
>>
>> Actually, it's more likely a water-activated chemical hydrogen
>> generating
>> compound, similar to the Mg-Fe packs in military field rations'
>> Flameless
>> Ration Heaters <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FRH>. The magnesium
>> strips the
>> oxygen off the water to make Mg(OH)2, leaving H2 .  I am curious
>> what sort
>> of reaction they use, but their literature is very light on technical
>> detail. I wonder how much heat these generate as a byproduct. That
>> might be
>> useful in and of itself!
>>
>> --
>> John Bange
>> '90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"