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Here is an article from a 2009 60 Minutes show about the work of Michael McKubre at SRI. He has been able to get excess energy. but not large enough or reliabl

by russell 15y ago

Here is an article from a 2009 60 Minutes show about the work of Michael McKubre at SRI. He has been able to get excess energy. but not large enough or reliably enough to claim complete success. He thinks it's some kind of catalytic surface effect. I've known McKubre for a long time. We were neighbors in the 90's. He's a good honest man. He may be mistaken, but he's not a fraud. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McKubre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McKubre I'm inclined to accept that some kind of low energy nuclear process is going on, although it is not fusion as we know it.

ars 15y ago
There are two main causes for "not large or reliable enough". The reason for "not large enough" is calorimetry. When you hydrolyze water some reforms back into steam and escapes. So you subtract that energy as lost in your calculations of output - input. The error is in not correctly calculating how much energy is actually lost vs left in the experiment. Good experiments don't allow any steam to be lost, they are perfectly insulated and keep everything inside the cell. Unfortunately it's extremely hard to do this accurately. (Or you can generate so much energy it's more than the input without subtracting the losses, but no one has ever been able to do that.) The reason for not reliably, is that experiments look for signs of radiation. Palladium is sometimes sourced from refined nuclear waste. It's refined extremely well, it's perfectly safe. But it has just enough residual radiation to cause very strange data for the experimenters: One batch of palladium works great, the next batch doesn't work at all, and they can't figure out what's different.
- russell 15y ago
  Exactly. One of the reasons that Pons and Fleischman got into such trouble is that their calorimic measurements were very inaccurate. They also tried to measure neutron radiation but their equipment wasnt up to the task. McKumbe mentions that the quality of the palladium varies greatly from source to source. Since one theory is that the fine structure of the palladium forces the deuterium atoms so close that they fuse, I infer that the nature of the fine structure is important and could vary greatly from source to source. Impurities could be the key or the poison.

by russell 15y ago

ars 15y ago

There are two main causes for "not large or reliable enough". The reason for "not large enough" is calorimetry. When you hydrolyze water some reforms back into steam and escapes. So you subtract that energy as lost in your calculations of output - input. The error is in not correctly calculating how much energy is actually lost vs left in the experiment. Good experiments don't allow any steam to be lost, they are perfectly insulated and keep everything inside the cell. Unfortunately it's extremely hard to do this accurately. (Or you can generate so much energy it's more than the input without subtracting the losses, but no one has ever been able to do that.) The reason for not reliably, is that experiments look for signs of radiation. Palladium is sometimes sourced from refined nuclear waste. It's refined extremely well, it's perfectly safe. But it has just enough residual radiation to cause very strange data for the experimenters: One batch of palladium works great, the next batch doesn't work at all, and they can't figure out what's different.

russell 15y ago
Exactly. One of the reasons that Pons and Fleischman got into such trouble is that their calorimic measurements were very inaccurate. They also tried to measure neutron radiation but their equipment wasnt up to the task. McKumbe mentions that the quality of the palladium varies greatly from source to source. Since one theory is that the fine structure of the palladium forces the deuterium atoms so close that they fuse, I infer that the nature of the fine structure is important and could vary greatly from source to source. Impurities could be the key or the poison.