Hi Mike. Conditions were ripe for an explosion here.
This from the trouble report - "The event occurred in the early stage of the experiment before a plasma normally forms. Soon after ordinary electrolysis began, voltage was increased to 20 V and current to 1.5 A. 5 or 6 seconds later, a bright white flash was seen on the lower portion of the cathode." So you have several seconds to saturate the solution and open space with H2 and O2 from ordinary electrolysis, and you have an unstable glow discharge igniting and extinguishing. Granted 20V is low, but not impossibly low. Also note that gas bubbles can effective reduce the surface area of the cathode, further lowering the necessary electrical potential needed for glow ignition. I worried about this when I replicated Nick's work a few months back, I hope Doctor M is more careful. Cave, frater. K. -----Original Message----- From: Mike Carrell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 3:43 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Glass funnel was not in use in the cell that exploded Jed wrote: > Mizuno reports that the inverted glass funnel was not in use in the latest > series of experiments, so there was a stoichiometric mix of hydrogen and > oxygen in the headspace of the cell. After further investigation, he > concluded that the explosion was probably triggered by the platinum mesh > anode. I will revise the accident report to include his latest comments, > and I will upload a version of it in a few days. Attributing the explosion trigger to the platinum mesh anode does not fit the reported events. The anode is submerged, as is the tungsten cathode. First there is a spark or flash, then an expanding glow, then an explosion. Jed interprets Mizuno's report as sujective, which may or may not be true. That is Jed's comment, not Mizuno's. When the disturbance reaches the surface, the stoiciometric H2-O2 mixture may well have ignited contributing to the explosion. The cause is glossed over. The electrolysis is locally producing H and K+ at the cathode. As I pointed out, these are ingredients for the BLP reaction. Tungsten is a dissociation catalyst for H2>2H in the BLP thermally driven plasma cell. Certainly examine the probable causes, but don't assume that understanding is complete. Cirillio et. al. also reported to ICCF-11 excess heat as well as transmutation in a light water plasma electrolysis cell with K2CO3 and a tungsten cathode. Here are two events which are possibly linked by the BLP reaction. Time to widen the perspective and not be too narrowly CF. Mike Carrell
