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[Teneb]

Energy density has to be shit though - just look at all the oxygen in the molecule.

Your MOM is full of oxygen.

Naah, MOM contains just one oxygen.

There isn't an element with a shorthand that is just 'M' though, unless you flip it so it becomes WOW, the W being Tungsten.

M stands for Yourmomium.

[Helgoland]

Energy density has to be shit though - just look at all the oxygen in the molecule.

Your MOM is full of oxygen.

Naah, MOM contains just one oxygen.

There isn't an element with a shorthand that is just 'M' though, unless you flip it so it becomes WOW, the W being Tungsten.

Context.

[MrRoboto75]

unless you flip it so it becomes WOW

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Max™]

Energy density has to be shit though - just look at all the oxygen in the molecule.

Your MOM is full of oxygen.

Naah, MOM contains just one oxygen.

Uh, your mom is full of amino acids, which are amines and carboxyl groups.

HCO₂H is 2/5 Hydrogen, but I've never thought of Oxygen as a... low energy atom, I mean, the various terrifying hydrogen compounds don't have shit on fun stuff you can do with a couple oxygens and a couple flourines.

[Starver]

The rest state of an oxygen compound tends towards stable. FOOF is hardly...  'stable'. That being the point (and or 'amusement potential') of it.

It all depends on which possibly elevated and small-in-size perch in the energy-landscape the molecule resides in, more than just which atoms are there.  N₂ is fairly unreactive,  but C₂N₁₄ isn't. Unsurprisingly, to anyone who understands what an "Azidotetrazole" might be. 

And hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane even has O₂s in it. Not sure that helps, though.

[Max™]

Anything with more than 1 z is scary, if there is also more than 1 x I'm terrified before you start telling me that it has stuff like "tetra" or "nitro" or "hexa" and a "tane" for good measure.

[Tack]

A team of students from my hometown's university, that proved last year they could run a small miniature car on formic acid, has now upscaled their design.

Have the fellows released a scholarly article yet?
Would be very keen to give it a peek

Also, unsure if that was firsthand writing but if so, very journalism, much concise, well entertain, good read.

[Helgoland]

HCO₂H is 2/5 Hydrogen, but I've never thought of Oxygen as a... low energy atom, I mean, the various terrifying hydrogen compounds don't have shit on fun stuff you can do with a couple oxygens and a couple flourines.

Unless you're looking at nuclear reactions, all the relevant energy is in the bonds, not the atoms themselves. And in formic acid a lot of bonds are already low-energy, since they're the same type of bond that occurs in the combustion product. It's not too inaccurate to think of formic acid as CO₂ + H₂, or rather CO + H₂O. So for every hydrogen molecule that's "stored" in a molecule of formic acid, you're lugging around a whole molecule of carbon dioxide.

That's why gasoline is such a great fuel: All the bonds in there are energy-rich, so everything that you're lugging around with you is actually useful.

[Starver]

(After a bit of link-following...  I'm now intrigued by P₃N₂₁ Or, to be precise, 2.2.4.4.6.6hexa-azido-2.4.6-triphospha-1.3.5-triazine.  I better stop now, lest I get on a List or something.)

[martinuzz]

A team of students from my hometown's university, that proved last year they could run a small miniature car on formic acid, has now upscaled their design.

Have the fellows released a scholarly article yet?
Would be very keen to give it a peek

Also, unsure if that was firsthand writing but if so, very journalism, much concise, well entertain, good read.

Not sure if they released a scholarly article yet. What I wrote was freely translated from a Volkskrant article.
here is the article:
http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/deze-stadsbus-in-eindhoven-rijdt-nu-op-mierenzuur-en-dat-is-behoorlijk-revolutionair~a4504850/

Their scale model prototype, made in 2016, made all kinds of media though, including but not limited to Discovery Channel and Russia Today.

Here's a link to the university newspaper: https://www.tue.nl/en/university/news-and-press/news/03-07-2017-how-to-power-a-bus-on-formic-acid/

[sluissa]

Powering things with formic acid has some interesting mind images. From horrid Alien-esque biotechnology. All the way to silly Flintstones derived ideas of "technology." "Oh, my ant engine has indigestion today."

Granted, I know formic acid exists outside of ant butts, but that's where its inextricably tied to in my mind.

[Max™]

HCO₂H is 2/5 Hydrogen, but I've never thought of Oxygen as a... low energy atom, I mean, the various terrifying hydrogen compounds don't have shit on fun stuff you can do with a couple oxygens and a couple flourines.

[snipped stuff I knew][/snipped stuff I knew]

Feels like that post would have better served someone who lacks basic chemistry knowledge.

Powering things with formic acid has some interesting mind images. From horrid Alien-esque biotechnology. All the way to silly Flintstones derived ideas of "technology." "Oh, my ant engine has indigestion today."

Granted, I know formic acid exists outside of ant butts, but that's where its inextricably tied to in my mind.

I had the image of drone engines swarming after the queen engine grows wings and her mates join her.

[martinuzz]

You forgot the best part about formic acid. Who wouldn't like a car that has fuel that can double as meat tenderizer or salad dressing?

EDIT: hmmwait, I though vinegar also had formic acid as an ingredient. Apparently I remembered wrongly, it's acetic acid. Formic acid should be good as well though for meat and salads. The SAS survival handbook says the formic acid in ants, when eating them alive, gives them a fresh, lemon-like flavour.

[inteuniso]

EDIT: I forgot how to chemistry.

[Starver]

Formic Acid: H(CO)OH
Dicarboxylic Acid: HO(CO)R(CO)OH
Those - using a non-standard notation for this explanation only - are 'straight through' chains, each, with (CO) being a C in the chain having an O-double-bonded off to the side, and R  being pretty much any midchain radical you want, including nothing at all for Oxalic Acid, HO(CO)(CO)OH. Formic is monocarboxylic.

Similarly notated, we have Carbonic Acid that is HO(CO)OH and Acetic Acid that is H(CH₂)(CO)OH. I'm looking at it carefully and sure that you can't conceivably get a simpler type of acid than Formic without it not being actually carboxylic at all, any more.

Unless you've found a good counterexample whilst using hemp-products, maybe...