This is Marsha's husband replying. My name is Chuck Hallett and my profession is Electrical Engineering. I am writing to hopefully describe the purpose of the light bulb in the silver generator circuit.
The primary purpose of the bulb is to limit current in the event the electrodes touch each other (short circuit). When the wires touch, or your alligator clips touch, the current in the batteries and the wires is limited only by the internal resistance of the batteries and the connecting wires. Electrical Current generates heat. Lots of current generates lots of heat. Try this, take a single nine volt battery (a used but not totally dead one) and connect a spare alligator clip lead to each terminal. You should notice the wire getting anything from warm to hot enough to melt the insulation. The bulb limits the current to 40 milliamps which is a reasonable amount of current for the battery circuit, and far below what the colloidal silver process will use. If the leads short together, at best, your batteries ($4.95 retail each) will quickly discharge and you'll be out buying new ones. At worst the heat generated could cause the wires to melt, and at an extreme, cause a fire. Why a 28 volt 40 milliamp lamp? Answer: Economies of supply. 28 volts because we don't want the bult to burn out if we short the wires together. When this happens all you've done is closed the switch on what is now the equivalent of a flashlight. If a smaller voltage bulb were used, it would glow very brightly for a short period of time and burn out. Then it would act like a blown fuse, i.e. no silver generation until replaced with a new bulb. 40 milliamps because it is a reasonable limiting value for the circuit and more importantly it is a commonly available bulb (at Radio Shack anyway). Just like the light bulbs you put in your lamps, these small lamps come in standard sizes. You can get different sizes which would work, but they are harder to get and much more expensive. Lastly the bulb serves as a battery condition indicator. The bulb serves no purpose in the silver generation process, it is only there for the reasons stated, and you can make a perfectly functioning generator without the bulb, by connecting the silver electrodes directly to the batteries. You just run the risk of running your batteries down quickly. If you are worried about a fire, either make sure nothing combustible is near the batteries & wire, or don't do it. I hope this sheds some light (pun intended) on the situation. Direct all flames to me at [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: Bill Kingsbury <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Date: Monday, July 13, 1998 9:27 AM Subject: Re: An observation... > >I read that the 40 mA bulb was used to limit the current to >40 mA maximum -- and lower currents would be desirable, (if >smaller bulbs were available) to minimize colloidal particle size. > >George's current is no where near 40 mA, and the results seem >to be compromised or questionable, already (at 36 vdc). > >Does anyone know how to design a 5 mA current regulator ? >(Any references or ideas appreciated.) > >Or, could one use 6 vdc, and keep a batch running 24 hours a day >(in a dark place) ? > >--Bill > > > >At 10:10 AM 7-13-98 -5, Mike D. wrote: >> >>On 13 Jul 98 at 22:15, George Martin wrote: >> >>> When the current read 8.0 - 10.0 ma >>> I noticed something different occur. In addition to the CS >>> 'floating' around in the vicinity of the electrodes there was >>> also a rather thick 'stream' of CS that was sinking to the >>> bottom of the container. >> >>Hello George, >> >>Excellent set of observations. Your setup is very similar to mine. >>I see the same effect at about the same current. >> >>I wonder if those are larger particles. A long time ago Rose used a >>microscope at work to look at some CS I made that was run for a long >>time (different apparatus and recipe than I'm using now). She saw >>much larger particles mixed with the almost invisible smaller ones. >> >>Above a certain current, some people have talked about "burning" the >>silver particles. I doubt that's a proper description, but it conveys >>the notion that the particles made are different. >> >>So it makes sense to try current limiting at something below that at >>which the descending cloud of darker particles is seen. That's what I >>would try. >> >>I've long thought that current limiting schemes of various sort would >>emerge as the best strategy once we start to really study the >>process. I've also wondered if there is a calculable property that >>would let you predict that threshold level, such as current density >>(current flow vs. surface area of electrodes). You're welcome to try >>the experiments. >> >>Be well, >> >>Mike D. >> > > > > >-- >The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. > >To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: >[email protected] -or- [email protected] >with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the subject: line. > >To post, address your message to: [email protected] > >List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]> > -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the subject: line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
