From: zili@home   
      
   Am 13 Dec 2005 13:38:24 -0800 schrieb "bob_jenkins@burtleburtle.net":   
      
   >How come the commercial airlines use jet fuel rather than LOX/H2?  I   
   >would have thought LOX/H2 would be lighter and would give the planes a   
   >longer range.  Is petroleum just cheaper?   
      
   ad 1: Forget LOX - it is easier and cheaper to use the oxygen provided   
   by the air.   
   ad 2: LH2 is a nasty stuff, that has two major disadvantages: a) its   
   very low density that necessitates large tanks and gives so much air   
   resistance and tankage weight, and b) the necessary low temperatures   
   needed to prevent the LH2 from boiling off (around -420 deg. F, if I   
   remember right). So you need very good insulation, that gives you   
   another weight penalty.   
      
   And there are a couple of other disadvantages of LOX/LH2 around. So   
   the use of fuels makes sense, that can be stored easily without   
   cooling and having a high (energy) density. Somewhen mankind will   
   switch over to regenerative fuels as alternative, just because it has   
   to out of necessity - due to lack of petrol oil at all...   
      
   cu, ZiLi aka HKZL  (Heinrich Zinndorf-Linker)   
   --   
   "Abusus non tollit usum" - Latin: Abuse is no argument against proper use.   
      
   mailto: heinrich@zili.de   http://zili.de   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)