No, John Kanzius of Erie, Pennsylvania, hasn’t discovered the
solution to the energy crisis. All the same, the story of a
backyard scientist whose radio frequency (RF) generator seemed
to ignite salt water has set amateur scientists all abuzz.
Inspired by his own bout of leukemia to try to find a better
cancer treatment, retired broadcasting station owner Kanzius
guessed that as an alternative to chemotherapy, he could inject
tumors with metal ions, then use radio waves to heat the metal
and destroy cancerous cells. He obtained an RF generator and, at
a visitor’s suggestion, tried to use the energy in the radio
waves to desalinate water. When Kanzius placed salt water in the
path of the waves, however, the water broke apart into oxygen
and hydrogen, a flammable gas. Kanzius had essentially
replicated the centuries-old method of water electrolysis,
separating water into hydrogen and oxygen gases by running a
current through water loaded with salt, which makes it
conductive. Alas, using radio waves to tap hydro