According to the ever-credulous AP, from Yahoo:
ERIE, Pa. - An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century.
John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn.
The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel.
Wow! Incredible! Literally, that is.
Analysis on the flip...
The AP piece (of you-know-what) goes on to say:
The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen, Roy said. Once ignited, the hydrogen will burn as long as it is exposed to the frequencies, he said.
The discovery is "the most remarkable in water science in 100 years," Roy said.
A new science is born: Water Science! Doesn't follow the laws of that other pesky science: Physics (or even chemistry, for that matter).
In order to cause dissociation of a water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen, it is necessary to put in enough energy to break the chemical bonds holding the atoms together. That "binding energy" is equal to the amount of energy that you get when you subsequently burn the resulting gas to produce heat and, you guessed it, water.
I know another way to do this even more easily. Just stick a couple of electrodes into a glass of water and hook up a battery to them. That will break the bonds too, and produce hydrogen gas that you can burn! Hey, two "water science" discoveries of the century in a single day!!
Wasn't it a group of chemists who brought us Cold Fusion?
It's a great day for alternative energy!