Question: Suze, 2 days ago i asked you a question on whether your hydrogen fuel car would require a electric motor produced by copper, and you said that you would ask some of your engeerning friends , have they left a reply?? Thanks :)

Suze Kundu answered on 16 Jun 2011:

Hi Umut!

I have been on the case for you, and two of my friends and I have been doing some brainstorming this evening for you. Now, just to clarify, what I was asking them about was the electroc motor once the electricity has been released from burning the hydrogen, yes? So we’re talking about the copper wire coil that creates the electromagnet that makes the axel of the motor turn, yes?

OK, between us, we’ve had a think. I suggested aluminium as an alternative, although copper has the ideal conduction, and doesn’t generate too much heat. Anyway, my friend Nitin found an article backing up my theory, saying that it is a fraction of the price of copper, and although in the past it hasn’t performed well, it actually seems to work just as well as copper in tests done recently. My other friend Charlie agreed. There is also loads of the stuff, so there we go! A little bit of investigative work there!

For general information, both of these friends did engineering degrees. Nitin did ‘electrical, software engineering, robotics, sound wave analysis and machine code engineering’, and he now works in the pensions section of PwC. Charlie did mechanical engineering, and he worked for a construction company for a while, and now works in engineering recruitment. Just to give you an idea of where else a science degree can take you!

Has that answered your question? If not, let me know, and we can talk about it more!