By Katy Human
Camera Staff Writer

Thomas Arndt and Sam Tyler at Base Line Middle School have made a car that runs off water.

Well, the remote-controlled PT Cruiser doesn't exactly run yet. And water is just the beginning — a bewildering array of mechanical and electrical systems lie between the tube of water and the model car.

The two eighth-graders spent the last several months figuring out how to pull hydrogen gas from the water and pump it into a fuel cell that runs the car. Their independent work was funded by a $1,600 Art and Science Knowledge grant from the Foundation for Boulder Valley Schools.

"They did it all," said Arndt and Tyler's science teacher, John Rundell. "I was skeptical at first, but they did a lot of work and they figured this out."

Arndt said he got the idea from a lecture Rundell gave early in the year on electrolysis, a process that separates molecules, making hydrogen and oxygen from water, for example. The technique is used in fuel cells, Rundell said — and many experts predict fuel cells will eventually power our cars and homes.

"This is the future," the teacher said, introducing his students to a small group of teachers, parents and administrators gathered in Base Line's library on Thursday.

His students eloquently explained the many problems they ran into in retrofitting Arndt's younger brother's PT Cruiser to run off a fuel cell.

First, the electrolyser they purchased turned out to be incredibly slow, Arndt said. "It took one and a half hours to make 20 cc's of hydrogen gas. This car uses that in 30 seconds."

It also took weeks to work through problems with DC converters and excess wiring.

Once they got the power system working, they discovered the car's circuit board was faulty.

"We need to buy another car," Tyler said. But he and Arndt demonstrated that their system could easily produce enough power to fuel the small vehicle.

The student project is exactly what the Foundation for Boulder Valley Schools had in mind when it started the grant program, said Terre Rushton, past president. "This is a work in progress," she said, encouraging the students to take it further over the summer and next year in high school.

This year, the first for the art and sciences grants, the Foundation awarded $9,000 for student projects, seven in art and five in science. The organization has $20,000 to give away every year, Rushton said.

Contact Katy Human at (303) 473-1364 or humank@thedailycamera.com.

May 31, 2002

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