In many of the recent advancements in technology going green has become a major factor and it seems that laser technology is not to be left behind. The Tokyo Institute of Technology has created a solar-powered laser that they hope will help them eventually create a magnesium combustion engine. The laser is meant to do this by creating enough heat to extract the magnesium from saltwater. In the process it will also create hydrogen and a lot of heat. In theory, you could be using this technology to get you to work at a Canada trademark office or to school every day in the future.
Magnesium is being seen as one of the best new energy sources because it has an energy storage density ten times higher than that of hydrogen and it is hugely abundant in saltwater. There are about 1,800 trillion metric tons of it in the world's oceans. The reason that a laser is needed for this is that you need temperatures of about four thousand kelvins to convert the magnesium oxide into magnesium. The laser will be able to do this in a very small area.
There are still many factors that will keep this technology from being used to get around Toronto catering vans or airplanes anytime soon. Currently, 1.3 meters squared of the Fresnel lens achieves about twenty-five watts of power. The scientists associated with the project believe that four square meters would produce as much as three to four hundred watts. This means that while this style of combustion engine might not help you fly to learn to speak English Canada based, it could be useful to help run major pieces of equipment in factories.
The head of the United States' Department of Energy, Sunita Satyapal, commented on the new laser by pointing out that this type of technology is still very expensive to produce and there are cheaper methods out there to produce hydrogen using sunlight. She also mentioned that this is not the first time that the combination of metals and water have been used as a means of creating hydrogen.
While this new solar-powered laser may not yet be practical for use in the world, it is still a huge step towards using magnesium as a source of energy. Maybe the next time you are spending money for jewelry or looking at a new car you will think a little about the potential for metal being used as an energy source.
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