ELECTROLYSIS
Hopefully you are familiar with the simple concept of Electrolysis where you pass a DC voltage between two electrodes suspended in an electrolytic solution such as salt water (seawater works good for this). The result is that Hydrogen bubbles off the Negative electrode, and Oxygen bubbles off the Positive electrode.

RISING BUBBLES
SCUBA divers are well aware of the phenomena of bubbles rising in water. As the bubbles rise they exert a small force on the water around them as they pass by and create a current.

CREATING FLOW
Imagine a six inch diameter pipe 100 feel long suspended vertically in the ocean (open at both ends). Introduce a stream of bubbles near the bottom of the tube and you will generate water flow up the tube. Water gets sucked in the bottom and expelled from the top

CREATING DC VOLTAGE
If you've been to your local reservoir lately you know that water streaming in a tube is a great way to generate electricity -- just put a turbine in the flow and hook it to a generator (a DC generator in this case).

ELECTROLYSIS
Hopefully you are familiar with the simple concept of Electrolysis… (see above [this is the "Perpetual" part])

HARVESTING THE HYDROGEN
When the gas reaches the top of the tube it is collected in an upside-down bucket suspended above the open end of the tube.

THE 2ND LAW
Perpetual Hydrogen Due to Gravity does not violate the 2nd law. It derives its energy from gravity, ask Archimedes to explain the rest. There is still a considerable engineering problem to solve. My 100 ft x 6 in pipe is just for visualization. It may turn out to be six one-inch pipes 1,000 feet long -- I'm not sure, but once the system is balanced, primed, and started, it should run endlessly and provide a continuous supply of free Hydrogen. I see no reason this concept could not be scaled up to industrial mega-watt scales.

ISSUES
How does pressure at depth affect the electrolysis process?
What percentage of the gas will dissolve back into the seawater before reaching the top of the tube?
How would an unlimited supply of extremely cheap and clean energy affect the global geo-political landscape of your planet?

SHARE THIS IDEA
Please share this idea with anyone smart enough or just plain crazy enough to prove or build any part of it. My sensibility says it will work. Please share with me any insight you may have on this concept by writing to matt.bailey@verizon.net.

CALCULATIONS