In my first report on the Arata experiment, I made a mistake that
upset Takahashi to no end. The captions in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 that I
sent here (both English and Japanese) say "D+-jet stream stopped."
Based on this, plus the fact that gas loading stops abruptly, I
assumed that the valve was closed and the flow of gas into the cell
terminated. Dr. Wang says that is incorrect. The gas flow continues,
but the material is apparently saturated, and gas loading into it
ends abruptly. Pressure in the cell begins to rise as additional gas
flows in, and this shows up roughly 5 minutes later in the graphs.
I thought the pressure was rising because the sample was degassing.
Arata told me that they prefer to raise the pressure of the cell
considerably above 1 atm to ensure that any contamination will leak
out of the cell, rather than being sucked into it. Arata also said
that increasing the pressure in the cell after the initial loading
phase does not significantly increase the excess heat.
I think I should change that label on the figures from "D+-jet stream
stopped" to something like "D+ absorption stops" (or "ends" or
"sample stop absorbing D+)". "Stopped" sounds transitive, indicating
that someone stopped it.
I was surprised to learn that absorption can stop so abruptly. I
thought it would taper off gradually. However, Edmund Storms told me:
"Clean, finely powdered Pd will react rapidly with hydrogen and, when
all of the sample has converted to the beta phase, very little
additional hydrogen will appear to be used. Of course, additional
hydrogen will be added as the beta phase increases in composition,
but this amount is small compared to the initial loading. This
behavior is well known and is consistent with what Arata observes."
Dr. Wang also explained to me (my translation):
"[During the initial D+ loading phase] deuterons are pushed into
voids in the lattice (the Octahedrons) in groups of 2 to 4 deuterons.
There they form solid deuterons which, during the "Skirt Fusion zone"
phase gradually undergo a nuclear fusion reaction, which continues
for 100 hours or longer. This produces large amounts of helium, as
heat production continues.
During this phase, the D2 gas pressure remains constant."
- Jed
