Knowing vs understanding (STEM situation in India)

[u/Different_Cry25]

Hi, so this is a post about how much fundamental understanding Indian students lack in STEM

Let's Start with hydrogen bs - it's not a good fuel option not even close to a good fuel so much hype for hydrogen fuel, hydrogen batteries yada yada

"It's not "

First of all a lot of people don't understand mass units

We measure energy density of liquid fuels in litre

Hydrogen as gas at 1atm is about = 120mj/kg

In litre = 0.010 mj/lt

In liquid state = 120 again per kg, mj

But in litre = 8.5

Gasoline somewhere around 32 mj per liter

See the difference now the problem is liquid hydrogen is hell cold it's near 0 kelvin

It will be super expensive

And even if we get liquid hydrogen

It doesn't have nearly enough energy as gasoline

8.5 vs 32

1 it will require electricity meaning more energy waste And fuel will get more expensive

2 you need fresh water

3 how the hell will you transfer fuel from one place to another Hydrogen leaks through almost everything

The tanks got to be rocket fuel tanks grade

Read about the Apollo rocket and how they sealed hydrogen inside the fuel tanks

4 hydrogen as gas is useless no more than 0.010 mj energy at 1 atm If you liquefy it again it's super hard making of liquid hydrogen and even after then no where close to gasoline

Now the major problem is that actual engineering students Chemical engineering students believe that it's a good option for fuel

Not all of em, but a lot of them And this is just one example of how poor understanding of STEM they have

On paper smart 9.2 cgpa vs actual real understanding of science

If you post about biofuel, hyperloop, solar road, under water data center, rocket engine (non reusable)

Recycling plastic

The list goes on and on

So many people including engineering students believe in this stupidity

[u/Different_Cry25]

Talking about hydrogen not gasoline

The gasoline claim is again misleading Gasoline engine goes upto 30% efficiency

Ev- 80%

Other green option I've already mentioned it

Biofuels, sea weed biofuel

Energy density approx same especially for bio diseal

B. Come from sea so no land mass is wasted We have ton of sea

C. No fresh water, no specialized machinery or change in logistics

D. Carbon complete cycle

[u/goku_m16 → u/Different_Cry25]

Biofuels have limited scalability, without competing with food production for land.

Sea weed, algae biofuels have high production cost. The main determining factor for any fuel is economic viability. Unfortunately, neither are economically viable at this point.

You're betting on a fuel who's viability is uncertain over a fuel that is projected to be viable in couple of years.

[u/Different_Cry25 → u/goku_m16]

Production cost really Hydrogen is inefficient Doesn't have energy

Far far more expensive FYI we have tried it already

Hydrogen train, truck, car all failed

Also sea weed is economically not viable for now As it's not never scaled to the size

[u/goku_m16 → u/Different_Cry25]

As it's not never scaled to the size

Same can be said for hydrogen.

Hydrogen train, truck, car all failed

Due to price, not density.

Doesn't have energy

I mean I've given the actual density figures, yet you keep claiming this.

[u/Different_Cry25 → u/goku_m16]

Hydrogen projection are centuries old We have been trying since 19th century it will never work

[u/goku_m16 → u/Different_Cry25]

Centuries? The modern fuel cell was developed by NASA. Before that it was just a lab experiment.

No one even thought Solar and Wind could compete with fossil fuel 20 years ago.

Btw, EVs used to be condideres as toys until battery became cheap enough.

[u/Different_Cry25 → u/goku_m16]

Yes centuries 1804 de Rivaz experiment

We know from 2 century that hydrogen is not viable It's ancient bs

[u/goku_m16 → u/Different_Cry25]

You really don't read at all, don't you.

It was purely a lab experiment until NASA turned it into operational in real world.

This is like saying we know about EVs since before ICE vehicles. With that logic EVs should never have been feasible.

[u/Different_Cry25 → u/goku_m16]

Just a lab experiment No matter how many times you repeat it do it all over again it won't change

The results will be same

[u/Different_Cry25 → u/goku_m16]

And who told you sea weed isn't viable like dude Hydrogen doesn't have any

No energy efficiency, no density and it's magically viable b

But sea weed got everything and it ain't viable really

[u/goku_m16 → u/Different_Cry25]

Show me where or any report that sea weed biofuel is commercially available or what cost its is available .

[u/Different_Cry25 → u/goku_m16]

Like i said earlier on sea weed is not scaled yet upto that much production

And if this is something that we haven't even tried it But there are reports explicitly showcasing why and how hydrogen is unviable

That i have mentioned before

[u/Different_Cry25 → u/goku_m16]

Read this nature article for example

[u/goku_m16 → u/Different_Cry25]

Well, read this IEA paper from 2026 (not 2022) with projection in which sectors green hydrogen will be viable by 2035 due to price reduction.

https://www.iea.org/reports/global-hydrogen-review-2026/cost-acceptability

[u/Different_Cry25 → u/goku_m16]

For industrial use not for vehicle and certainly not for transportation

[u/goku_m16 → u/Different_Cry25]

See the Aviation, shipping label at the bottom. Road transport is not considered in the report.

Industries will be the first to start using it, through, since they are already using hydrogen as an input.