Quote Originally Posted by Seraphim View Post
however, it would be a simple matter to again break that water down into it's components using electrolysis, etc. At that point the hydrogen would be readily available to burn yet again.

2 H2 + O2-> 2 H20 that's how hydrogen burns. pure hydrogen burns in pure oxygen to make pure water. in doing so, light and heat (energy) is released, so more properly:
2 H2 + O2-> 2 H20 + energy

in order to perform electrolysis:
2 H2O + energy -> 2 H2 + O2

in other words, you are putting it back in, so to speak.

pure hydrocarbons burned in the presence of pure oxygen should only yield CO2 and water, depending on proportions. and energy. there ARE ways to reverse this, however, they would not yield wood because wood is a complicated living structure. you might get some of the base ingredients, though.

for instance, a very basic hydrocarbon oxidization reaction:
CH4 (methane) + 2 O2 -> CO2 + 2 H2O + energy which IS reversible

of course you can't reconstitute wood, it's a cellular structure and none too pure. also, most things are not burned in a laboratory, they are burned in the atmosphere which is mostly nitrogen, some things have byproducts which are in turn reagents with nitrogen, and form all sorts of nitrates when burned.