Last evening I made a smaller version of the electrolysis bath and the nickel overheated and melted the plastic container at the contact point again as it was sparking and spitting. The heat may be the result of joule heating or some other process as the current (3 amps for this test) is concentrated to a small region of the nickel due to a heavy coating of some unknown thick white material over most of its surface . Since I want to experiment further along this interesting line, I need to use a more robust container that does not melt at the temperatures encountered.
I found a small glass jar that measures 2 inches diameter by 4 inches high and placed the electrodes within. After I had started the electrolysis, I began to think of safety from gas explosion. This system is capable of capturing hydrogen much better that the old open ones before since the walls are higher and the exit path narrow in proportion. I know that I will have sparks and small flames as with the open system so now I would like to know if there is significant danger of explosion. Is anyone aware of reports of a relatively low volume open to the air glass cell exploding and causing injury or damage to the surroundings? Most of the jar volume will likely be filled with a mix of hydrogen and oxygen plus room air. I have not calculated the amount of energy contained within the captured hydrogen since a bad calculation could be dangerous. Please give me guidance before I reconnect this beast as it now is on standby. Dave -----Original Message----- From: David Roberson <dlrober...@aol.com> To: vortex-l <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Mon, Oct 15, 2012 8:45 pm Subject: Re: [Vo]:New Experiment Started One final note that I want to include. I allowed the experiment to go into the unusual mode for the third time and made some measurements. The electrolyte was boiling as in the first two observations and I also noted sparks being emitted. Unfortunately, I let the system become too hot and it melted the bottom of my test container allowing the electrolyte to leak out. After this episode, I obtained a smaller container and started another round of testing. I will need to compete another calibration before useful data can be obtained. A most interesting afternoon. Dave -----Original Message----- From: David Roberson <dlrober...@aol.com> To: vortex-l <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Mon, Oct 15, 2012 5:35 pm Subject: Re: [Vo]:New Experiment Started I have an interesting addition to this report. After I cleaned up the deposits and added water and electrolyte I let my experiment continue electrolysis. The effect happened again with some interesting differences. I noticed that the thin layer that coated the electrolyte bath came in the form of small floating islands about the size of a standard pencil lead. These came together to form a film over the surface. A much thicker deposit formed upon the active nickel that is like a form of crust. Then I noticed that sparks were being emitted from the edge of the active nickel! The sparks came intermittently and the intensity of the sparks varied. I saw actual flames on rare occasions which had me alarmed. Perhaps this is caused by the hydrogen becoming ignited at that electrode. The water between electrodes was at boiling temperature. I noticed that the supply voltage was varying by a large degree in the fashion of bubble bursting which could be due to the reduced path for ions to the nickel that is now covered with the white hard deposit. Next, I tapped the deposit mostly off of the nickels and added water to the bath. The surface deposit was stirred up so that things are returning toward normal. There still remains a layer of the white deposit on the top of the active nickel from which bubbles of hydrogen are exiting. This experiment is getting more interesting all the time. I hope to get to the bottom of the observations, but I have no idea what is occurring. Dave -----Original Message----- From: David Roberson <dlrober...@aol.com> To: vortex-l <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Mon, Oct 15, 2012 3:54 pm Subject: Re: [Vo]:New Experiment Started I had an exciting afternoon. I replaced my control nickel with the 40 plus hour heat treated one that resembles an old penny now and began electrolysis. The reading of voltage was a bit unusual after the first hour of operation so I replenished the water and added a little additional sodium carbonate to allow the system to reach equilibrium. Just before I started to make the standard readings after approximately an hour of additional electrolysis a friend called me on the telephone so I was diverted. We spoke for I would guess about half an hour until line noise convinced me to go upstairs to accept another call. Both of us changed telephones but the noise was still bad as we continued our conversation. Perhaps 30 minutes later we finished the call and I went back to make the measurements. My system was behaving very strange. I noticed that the bath had a thin white layer of material on its surface and a thick deposit was on the test nickel. This deposit was white and crystalline which I would guess is some type of carbonate. It was also very evident that a loud hissing noise was originating from the test system. I broke a hole through the thin layer covering the bath easily with my finger and noticed that it was very hot to the touch. The test nickel was also extremely hot. I decided to make the usual measurements and saw that the current was within normal range at 2.5 amps while the voltage had increased to 12.57 volts which is about 2 volts above typical. The liquid was reading 80 degrees C which is much higher than normal. With the measured delta C I would expect to have 86 watts of power being dissipated according to previous calibrations. The actual input was calculated as 31.425 watts. This will clearly be a significant measurement of excess power if it holds up to scrutiny. I suspect that the thin film on the surface of the electrolyte is acting as an insulator or some other issue is contributing to the strange results. I stirred up the electrolyte, cleaned off the nickel deposit and added additional water and sodium carbonate to see if the effect arises again. Regardless of whether or not this proves to be elusive, I had an interesting episode! By the way, I turned off the power to my test system and the line noise continued so I suspect the noise was generated by some other problem besides radiation emissions from my device (I sure hope so). Dave
