Gary, Given our last major thread on this list, I am skeptical about even the possible benefits (mostly out of ignorance). My understanding is that compressed Hydrogen is awfully easy to get, and doesn't take much energy to produce. Can anyone on the list estimate how much energy is needed to mine, purify, and process 100 grams of nickel? Does anyone know how much waste is produced?
The Rossi-mini report says that the amount of energy produced by the 100 grams of nickel is equivalent to what can be generated by two tons of oil. An impressive number on first pass, but one that might not stand up to much scrutiny. For example, if you were talking two tons of unrefined oil, the power produced is not nearly as much as two tons of refined gasoline. As for the Nickel: One report I found suggested that much nickel is currently recovered from waste produced by mining other substances (one Indian company is recovering nickle from the 240 MILLION tons of waste produced from mining chromite). Presumably if the value of nickel increased, that waste would be produced initially for the purpose of getting the nickel. Another report by the IFC notes that nickle smelting and refining produces gases including large amounts of sulfer dioxide, some ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, and "highly toxic" nickel carbonyl. Resulting waste water can have high levels of antimony, arsenic, and/or mercury. There is also a large amount of "dense silicate slag," which I think just means "rocks." In addition to all the obvious pollutants, there is a simple question of the amount of power it takes to get the ore, break it up, melt out the nickel, chemically purify it, mechanically manipulate it, and transport it. It seems to me at least possible that the amount of energy it takes to get the nickel and clean up the mess is more than the amount of energy reported as produced. Of course, I don't know much about the messy details of this stuff, and it either is or is not a net positive. How much nickel 100 grams of nickel? Quick research suggests that each US nickel weighs 5 grams, and has 1.25 grams of nickel. So you can think of it as 20 nickels in terms of weight, or as much nickel as there is in 80 nickels (i.e., its not much). That said, I have no clue how much ore it takes to produce that much nickel, and there are economies of scale involved. That's more than I intended to write (or research), but I just thought it was worth thinking this through in light of our last major thread. Eric On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 01:39 PM, Gary Schiltz <[email protected]> wrote: > I don't know if the device is real or not, but I can't find any way of >attributing good motives to these guys: if they are simply trying to put one >over on the world for fame and fortune, they shame on them (and on us for >falling for it). If they truly have produced cold fusion, then witholding >details of a technology with such far-reaching positive implications, in order >to increase their economic gains, is also reprehensible. But then, my money is >on the former. > >;; Gary > >On Apr 8, 2011, at 12:16 PM, Owen Densmore wrote: > >> Sorry if this is a repeat question .. I've been skimming mail lately due >to homework! >> >> So the question is: Has anyone reproduced the experiment/device? I >realize Rossi is applying for a patent and is therefore somewhat protective, >but U of Bologna is quite respectable, the oldest university in europe. >> >> So UofB must be interested in protecting their reputation .. thus would >like a duplicate made by independent researchers under some sort of protective >agreement. >> >> -- Owen > >============================================================ >FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > Eric Charles Professional Student and Assistant Professor of Psychology Penn State University Altoona, PA 16601
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