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[Phys-l] COLD FUSION



Last year I suggested that some of you participate in an experiment whose purpose was to study the unexplained "excess energy" discovered by Mizuno et al. in Japan, and later confirmed by scientists in Europe. I am steel deeply involved in that project, as described at:

http://blake.montclair.edu/~kowalskil/cf/

At first we confirmed the claim, as summarized in unit #300. But recently we discovered a prosaic effect that might, possibly, be responsible for the illusion of excess heat. That prosaic effect was not taken under consideration when thermal energy released was evaluated. This is described in units #301 and #302. Our motivation is to solve the puzzle, one way or another. We now know what kind of easy experiments must be performed to get a definite answer.
Comments would be appreciated.

P.S.
The Little's-type test, described at the beginning of unit #301, for boiling electrolyte, is suitable for a student project. Keep this in mind if you have students looking for projects. We can use their findings; write to me if they are willing to help us.

Our salt was potassium carbonate, K2CO3. The energy balance was made on the assumption that what comes out from the beaker is pure steam. Latent heat of water is L=2260 J/g. Thermal energy released was calculated as L*m + C, where m is the mass lost (presumably pure steam) and C is the energy lost via convection and radiation. An overestimation of m, for example, by 10%, would be the cause of 10% of "excess heat." Note that no "energy balancing" is performed in a Little-type test. We would be interested in the percentage of salty droplets in the "wet steam" for a beaker with boiling electrolyte. An ordinary hot plate, or a common immersion heater, can be used to sustain boiling. How does this percentage depend on the intensity of boiling? Splashing (production of visible droplets) must be prevented by a set of buffers above the surface. My suggestion is to use a one-liter beaker, containing about 400 cc of salty water. Some method of condensing wet steam must be invented by students.

Ludwik Kowalski
Let the perfect not be the enemy of the good.