# Can I make water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 19, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885 "2004-05-19T01:40:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RAWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@RAWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWDuke)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/1 "2004-05-19T01:40:16Z")
Dumb question I’ve had bouncing between my ears for a while: If I put 1 Zillion atoms of oxygen and 2 Zillion atoms of hydrogen into my kitchen blender and set to “puree” will I end up with 2 Zillion molecules of water? I’m guessing not, since there’s probably more required than simple agitation to force atoms to combine into molecules. But, what mechanism would be needed? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/2 "2004-05-19T02:05:32Z")
You don’t have to blend them, you have to SET THEM ON FIRE!!! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/3 "2004-05-19T02:05:32Z")
You need to add heat. Throw a match into that blender and you should have water. Stand back when you do it. And the water will be in gaseous form, so let it cool a bit before you drink it 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/4 "2004-05-19T02:06:37Z")
Great men simulpost alike. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/5 "2004-05-19T02:16:56Z")
OK, so you’re telling me to take two highly inflammable (explosive?) gases and just turn up the heat and instead of blowing up I’ll get a glass of Evian. Right. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/6 "2004-05-19T02:17:06Z")
Interestingly enough, there are other ways to make water, albeit more complex- I believe one of the products that comes out the end of a catalytic converter of an automobile is water vapor. I could be totally wrong on this, but it does sound feasable (since you’re burning hydrocarbons and oxygen together, it stands to reason you might be able to get some H20 that way). In fact, isn’t that why there is water coming out of car tailpipes sometimes? Would that be the condensation from the exhaust? Another way to get water is through aerobic respiration. When your muscles work, one of the by-products is H20. Probably one possible explanation of how some desert animals don’t drink any water, eat very dry foods, but get by just fine. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/7 "2004-05-19T02:26:34Z")
However you get them to combine, you would only end up with **1 zillion molecules of water** , not 2 zillion. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/8 "2004-05-19T02:28:10Z")
Hoke, you should have made water back at that fillin’ station! We gotta get to Mobile by midnight. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/9 "2004-05-19T02:32:34Z")
> [@Incubus](#): > > Interestingly enough, there are other ways to make water, albeit more complex- > > I believe one of the products that comes out the end of a catalytic converter of an automobile is water vapor. I could be totally wrong on this, but it does sound feasable (since you’re burning hydrocarbons and oxygen together, it stands to reason you might be able to get some H20 that way). In fact, isn’t that why there is water coming out of car tailpipes sometimes? Would that be the condensation from the exhaust? Yes condensation from exhaust. You dont need a catalytic converter, just fuel and an ignition source. Oxygen and hydrogen can also be combined in a fuel cell, without all that nasty heat. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/10 "2004-05-19T02:35:24Z")
Burn a piece of paper, a chunk of wood, some gasoline or candlewax, sugar cubes, a pork chop, a microwave pizza. You’ll get some water. Anything that contains hydrogen can be burnt in an oxygen atmosphere to produce water. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/11 "2004-05-19T02:57:17Z")
Gosh. If you can make water, then why is my mother making me take shorter showers? Why don’t we just make lots more water, for the sake of all showers? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/12 "2004-05-19T03:05:44Z")
It’s a lifestyle choice **flamingbananas**. We either take fewer, shorter showers, or give up microwave pizza. Although in your case, I’d expect you have trouble keeping the humidity down when you stay in a room too long, what with the flames and the bananas and all. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/13 "2004-05-19T03:06:05Z")
If you mix an acid and a base, one of the products is water. Unless I’m very mistaken, which I doubt. > [@flamingbananas](#): > > Gosh. If you can make water, then why is my mother making me take shorter showers? Why don’t we just make lots more water, for the sake of all showers? I know you’re probably joking, but I think the reason is that all the above methods require a lot of energy, so it wouldn’t be worth it, especially when so much water already exists on our planet. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/14 "2004-05-19T03:37:06Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > OK, so you’re telling me to take two highly inflammable (explosive?) gases and just turn up the heat and instead of blowing up I’ll get a glass of Evian. Right. Hydrogen gas is flammable. Oxygen gas is not; as an _oxidizing agent_, you might say that it enhances the flammability of other substances. The chemical product of burning hydrogen in the presence of oxygen is water. Due to the heat that will also be produced, the water produced will be in the form of water vapor. Condense this water vapor, and you’ve got your Evian. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/15 "2004-05-19T04:19:26Z")
> [@](#): > > OK, so you’re telling me to take two highly inflammable (explosive?) gases and just turn up the heat and instead of blowing up I’ll get a glass of Evian. Right. Nobody ever said you wouldn’t blow up. The process of making water from hydrogen and oxygen, however you do it, is going to release a lot of energy. And if you don’t control it very carefully, that energy is indeed likely to go into a big explosion. But what you have left over after the explosion will, indeed, be water. And seriously, the reason we don’t make more water for showers is that it’s hard to get the hydrogen gas. In fact, most of the hydrogen on or near the Earth’s surface is already in the form of water. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/16 "2004-05-19T07:44:57Z")
It is also worth noting that one zillion molecules of water, when condensed to liquid form are considerably more compact than your original gaseous hydrogen and oxygen - someone else can do the calcs, but your blender full of gases is not going to produce a full glass of water - more like a thin film of condensation. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/17 "2004-05-19T07:47:24Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It is also worth noting that one zillion molecules of water, when condensed to liquid form are considerably more compact than your original gaseous hydrogen and oxygen - someone else can do the calcs, but your blender full of gases is not going to produce a full glass of water - more like a thin film of condensation. I would except one zillion is an indeterminate number. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/18 "2004-05-19T08:23:58Z")
Perhaps we could calculate the volume of gaseous hydrogen and oxygen required to make a litre of water? (at STP etc). ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/19 "2004-05-19T10:01:35Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Perhaps we could calculate the volume of gaseous hydrogen and oxygen required to make a litre of water? (at STP etc). Yes that is correct. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885/20 "2004-05-19T10:05:22Z")
oh alright 55.5 moles PV=nRT ~1370L of H[sub]2[/sub] ~680L of O[sub]2[/sub] So about 2000L of the gases condenses to 1L of water, all at STP… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-water/245885.md?page=2)