I have seen on a lot of cars dripping water from the exhaust. I read/heard (those are the keywords.. so no flaming please) somewhere that it is because of complete combustion in the engine chamber and that those are the condensed air mixture... is this true? Is this a way to monitor the "effeciency" of the engine? Is our TC engines as good if this is any indication? Thanks.

 

drink osme and let me know how it goes

 

I wouldn't say to drink it haha.

 

freebase it then...i dont care

 

I live in an area where reformulated gas is required. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in these areas an additive is added to the gas to make it burn a little cleaner (although some argue is doesn't), but an effect of this is that it also produces a little water which drips out of the exhaust.

 

We did the formula out once in chemistry class and when done out in an "ideal" enviroment the only biproduct of the gaseline combustion in the cyclinder should be H2O. But of course we don't live in the indeal enviroment so we get other biproducts like CO2 etc. There will be alot of factors in the amount of water that drips from the muffler/s. A couple being how long has the person been driving and how fast they like gun it at the stop signs. But most cars that have been running for a period of time should have the water issue.

 

Water is a by-product of petrolium benzine combustion. Oxagen atoms from the O2 in the air and hydrogen molecules in the fuels hydrocarbon atoms combine during the combustion process and create water (as well as other oxides)

edited 11:27 14MAR05

 

moved...

 

the products from a good combustion are water and carbon dioxide (could be wrong, might be corbon monoxide...).
normaly the water is in gas form and not noticed...but if it cools enough you can see the drops of water....

as for monitoring this you could use a wideband O2 sensor....
it tells if you are running rich / lean or just right (stoch)....i

 

To be accurate, when an hidrocarbon (gasoline) mixes with air (which also contains nitrogen) trough the combustion process the sub-products are:

H20+CO2 (carbon dioxide) + CO (Carbon monoxide) + C (free carbon) + NOx (nitrous oxides) + released energy (heat).

When the engine is cold the gases condense and come out as water drops. When the engine and the catalytic converter are hot enough the combustion sub-products reach the end of the tail pipe in gaseous form and are not seen unless is enough cool outside and then they come out as white smoke.

 

thanks....

i thought i was close...
now how can i capture the NOx to re-use...lol

 

Thanks guys... cool replies.

 

you guys are good at chemistry, im a physics guy myself

 

interior custodial arts major .....lol