"Interatomic Coulombic Decay" as described below may have relevancy to cold fusion in various ways. For one thing, it provides a mechanism, without detectable radiation, for releasing free electrons in a stressed lattice or even in an electrolyte. Perhaps such liberated at a distance electrons might play a role in catalysing fusion. Such an energy transfer mechanism might play a role in energy dispersion in the vicinity of a cathode? The long range of the effect seems to be capable of jumping the two atom thick interface layer at the cathode, perhaps even locally neutralizing the interface momentarily. Neutralizing the interface would improve electrolysis efficiency.
Such an effect may provide a limited degree of electron conductivity in electrolytes, something I noted in my experiment reports here measuring the rate of charge equalization over the length of a 10 meter long electrolytic cell with a flowing electrolyte. A snipped summary of those experiments is included below, following the quote of the Physics News Update article immediately below. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Physics News Number 705 October 20, 2004 by Phillip F. Schewe, Ben Stein ATOMS CAN TRANSFER THEIR INTERNAL "STRESS" TO OTHER ATOMS, new experiments have revealed. Compared to atoms that are all by themselves, atoms with a close neighbor have a very efficient and surprising way to get rid of excess internal energy. An excited atom can hand over its energy to a neighbor, a research team led by the University of Frankfurt has demonstrated experimentally in a measurement carried out at the Berlin synchrotron facility BESSY II (R. Doerner, [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Predicted in 1997 by a group at Heidelberg University (Cederbaum et al., Phys Rev. Lett, 15 Dec 1997), this decay mechanism occurs when atoms or molecules lump together. Once an excited particle is placed in an environment of other particles such as in clusters or fluids, the novel de-excitation mechanism, called "Interatomic Coulombic Decay," leads to the emission of very low-energy electrons from a particle that is neighboring the initially excited one (see figure at www.aip.org/png). The researchers demonstrated the effect in a pair of weakly bound neon atoms. The two neon atoms were separated by 3.4 Angstroms (about 6 times the radius of the neon atom) and held together by a weak "van der Waals" bond. Removing a tightly bound electron from one of the neon atoms allowed one of the less tightly bound atoms to jump down to the tightly bound spot and in the process gained energy. The extra energy was not sufficient to liberate any of the remaining electrons in the same neon atom, but it was sufficient to release an electron in the neighboring atom. This newly verified effect may have a wide-ranging impact in chemistry and biology since it is predicted to happen frequently in most hydrogen-bonded systems, most prominently liquid water. Furthermore, it may be an important, and so far unknown, source of low-energy electrons, which have recently been shown to cause damage to DNA (see http://www.aip.org/pnu/2003/split/636-1.html). (Jahnke et al., Physical Review Letters, 15 October 2004; also see researchers' website at http://hsb.uni-frankfurt.de/photoncluster/ICD.html) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - End Phys. Rev. Lett. article - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10 meter Electrolytic Cell Experiment Horace Heffner - 4/15/96 [Selected text] To further investigate the rate of electric potential travel and conductivty changes vs. flow rate, I constructed a super-stretch 10 m cell to enable measurement of timing using my very unstable 1960's vintage war surplus oscilloscpe. If I ever get a Patterson Power Cell to output as much heat as that scope I will jump for joy. The 10 m cell length is actually 10.31 m of 1/8" ID tygon tubing. The length of the Pt exposed to the electrolyte is 6 cm, the NiCr wire 18 cm. The length of Pt wire exposed to moving electrolyte is 3 cm., the NiCr wire, 13 cm. The difference is due to the fact the wires are inserted into the flow using a 1/8" ID barbed T connector, where the electrolyte enters from a 90 degree angle and the wire goes straight through the T. The end seals are compression fittings made by cutting halfway though a rubber stopper and inserting the wire. This was fit into the large end of a threaded 1/4" pipe to hose fitting. A compression cap was made by drilling a 1/4" hole in an ordinary 1/4" pipe cap. A piece of 1/6" thick rubber spacer was cut to fit on the end of the stopper and a small hole was punched through the middle to accept the wire. The compression cap was fitted over the spacer with the wire extending through the middle and tightened down. All the seal parts were bought at Eagle Hardware. The electrolyte used was 200 ml of 1 M Li2SO4. Fluid flow velocity was 9'5" in 60 s or 4.78 cm/s. Fluid flow rate was 23.9 ml in 60 s or 0.40 ml/s. Pressure oscillated between 21 and 22 mmHg at the pump rotational frequency of 2 Hz. A drip degasser was included in the fluid circuit to ensure the current flow was one way. The steady state and flowing state battery voltage from the Pt-NiCr battery was .382 V. For this experiment flow was always from the NiCr electrode towards the Pt. electrode. The electrode leads were switched between the two sets of measurements. To check propagation rate a 5 V 1 kHz A/C square wave, with the plus pulse slightly longer than the negative pulse, was applied in both flowing and steady state electrolytes. The results were indistinguishable. The output waveform matched the shape of the input, except the there was a typical RC response delay curve in both the rise and fall edges, indicating a significant capacitance. To check that the RC curve was not due to inductance, a copper wire was laid out on the floor next to the 10 m loop of Tygon and connected in the circuit in place of the fluid circuit. The ouput waveform exactly matched the square input waveform. The time constant of the RC response was about 40 us, i.e. the waveform reached 66 percent in two divisions or 4x10-5 seconds. This means the peak voltage is 99 percent reached in 2x10-4 s on a pulse width of 1/2000 th of a second, or 5x10-4 s. To check this the Tygon tubing was pinched with thumb and forefinger, thus increasing resistance, and the curve flattened out. As a cross check a DMM was used to measure the capacitance. With the + lead connected to the Pt the capacitance was .094 nF or 9.4x10^-11 F. Reversing the leads the capacitance was measured at .084 nF, or 8.4x10-11 F. Using the first V vs uA table value of 17.8 uA at 5 V, we get a resistance of 280k, or 2.8x10^5 ohms. This yields a time constant Tc = (9.4E-11 F)*(2.8E5 Ohm) = 2.6E-5 s, or about 26 microseconds, which is not far from the 40 microsecond Tc approximated from the waveform. This large time constant is an indication that the capacitance of the fluid will prevent better measurments of propagation rate of the electric pulse using this technique, even with a better oscilloscope, due to the long rise time caused by the fluid capacitance and resistance in a 10 m cell. DIRECT CONCLUSIONS FROM DATA (1) The most significant conclusion is that charge differential can be equalized in a 1 m Li2SO4 electrolytic cell at a velocity of more than 10^6 m/s in a field gradient as small as 1 V/m, and this can happen in an electrolyte flowing at over 4 cm/s in either direction. This is determined by looking at the rise time of the square wave at output of cell vs input of cell. (2) Cell current appears to be slightly improved by a flowing electrolyte. [Regardless of direction of flow.] SOME DISCUSSION Electromagnetic fields can convey only oscillating fields, not a static charge. Only a particle can carry a charge. Even a purely static electrostatic field can only extend potentials according to the inverse square law. A static 10 V EMF at the tip of a .015" wire can barely be measured at 1 m, much less 10 m. You certainly can not do it with my equipment. If EM fields conveyed potential through conductors you could simply remove the water from the 10 m cell and still measure the same EMF. That will not work. The EMF can not be carried by photons, except *between* particles. The charge bearing particles receiving the impulse then must *move* to propagate a field strength change on to the neighboring (chargewise downstream) particles. I can believe an EM pulse could induce voltages, at least a momentary field gradient, at 10 m distance, but it would require major energy, and would be clearly dynamic. If you look at the 1 kHz pulse it comes up to equilibrium - it in effect is not a pulse. If you connected a 10 V battery instead of the square wave generator, it would come up to the same potential at the same speed and stay there indefinitely. An electromagnetic field is propagated in a sinusoidal [or at least oscillating] form. For every potential swing there is an equal energy but opposite polarity swing due to the generated magnetic field collapse. EM waves inside wires are propagated via electrons in metal conduction bands. Since the proton is 1836 times heavier than an electron, it seems a propagation mechanism involving the proton would be limited to C/1836 = 1.63x10^5 m/s. There is some evidenence the potential can be carried forward by electrons in electrolytes. That evidence is the fact the Faradaic efficiency is not 100 percent. Some of the currrent must be in the form of electrons. It takes only a very small number of electrons to carry a potential forward. The number required to do so in a conductor that is open at the end strictly depends on the capacitance of the conductor, as determined strictly by it' surface area and geometry. Electrons must carry forward the potential in electrolytes in a manner similar to the way a lightning leader is formed. The heavy nuclear ions would respond eventually with motion. Fast charge propagation via electrons is not surprizing when you think about the size of the de Broglie wavelength of a thermal Electron. It is huge, much larger than the largest atom. And the mass is very small. Free electrons, and conduction band electrons, must be very very good at EMF propagation. Thinking aloud about this a bit, it is possible for electrons to propagate charge without leaving their orbitals. This is by simply deforming their atoms to create dipoles. The electron orbital moves relative to its nucleus, in a local field gradient, but the enertia of the nucleus prevents motion so the wave potential is propagated. Ions in the solution can then eventually respond (but in parallel) to the local gradients in a speed that approximates spontaneous inertial recovery of the atomic dipoles, i.e. due to the atomic dipole nuclei finally responding with motion. It seems like each atomic dipole nucleus would overshoot, resulting in a resonant decay mode frequency characteristic of the mass of the nucleus. Wierd thought, EMP resonance instead of NMR. Forensics applicatio there? Much slower effects, like H2O (nautrally a dipole) molecular rotation could also complete the job of EMF propagation. It is interresting that Storms in his "Critical Review of the "Cold Fusion Effect", page 42, item 10, states that RF frequencies, especially 82 MHz, is helpful. Maybe the electrolyte plays a role as a resonator/oscillator in this regard. If you get the right electrolyte mix, you get the right resonant frequency. Regards, Horace Heffner
