Harvey, > Is palladium as an electrode essential for cold fusion > experiments?
You can start with a premise that NO single feature is essential. Cold Fusion occurs sometimes with no power added to a loaded electrode but also with no real electrode; and in both light water and heavy water; and/or the gas phase of either. There is a wealth of information in the LENR-CANR archives, but since you are likely to be a person who prefers experiment over online research, why not start from the other end, and ask yourself, what resources can I put together to recognize cold fusion - i.e. am I going to learn calorimetrry, or can I built an dedicated instrument like a spectrometer? I mention spectrometry/spectroscopy because it has been used extensively by R. Mills in his work, with convincing results, but there is a huge gap in the use of spectroscopy in LENR, and given that the two fields may be related, that is a gap which could be filled by some enterprising experimenter. Plus spectroscopy is amenable to home-built meters; and best of all, NIST even has a program to supply the necessary semiconductors. http://physics.nist.gov/Divisions/Div841/Gp1/xuv.detectors/xuv.detectors.html Here is a source of the colloid. http://www.purestcolloids.com/mesopalladium.htm For instance, starting with the simplest kind of testing, it is possible that the LENR reaction will occur in a Pd-colloid under irradiation at a specific frequency, perhaps in a microwave oven. It is possible that this reaction, in addition to excess heat, will release photons in spectra where they are not expected, like the ultraviolet or soft x-rays. Since the LENR reaction often "continues" for a time period after irradiation, testing is simplified. Good luck, Jones
