Jed wrote 5 years ago: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]&q=subject:%22%5BVo%5D%3AMore+from+Takashashi+about+mixing%22>I had a brief conversation at ICCF-15 with Takahashi about mixing in the Kitamura experiment.
***Jed: Can you get in touch with Takahashi &/or his team to get a comment on Shanahan's response to their paper? SRNL - Comments on “Anomalous effects in charging of Pd powders with high densityhydrogen isotopes” (U) Kirk L. Shanahan Savannah River National Laboratory Aiken, SC Abstract In Kitamura, et al [1], Pd - containing materials are exposed to isotopes of hydrogen and anomalous results obtained. These are claimed to be a replication of another experiment conducted by Arata and Zhang [2]. Erroneous basic assumptions are pointed out herein that alter the derived conclusions significantly. The final conclusion is that the reported results are likely normal chemistry combined with noise. Thus the claim to have proven that cold fusion is occurring in these systems is both premature and unlikely. www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp/repository/90001369.pdf Perhaps they have already responded? Is there a dialog for Physics Letters A papers that we can look through? Even though I think Shanahan's approach & conclusions are bogus, I think his paper should be added to your library. [Vo]:More from Takashashi about mixing <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]&q=subject:%22%5BVo%5D%3AMore+from+Takashashi+about+mixing%22> Jed Rothwell <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]&q=from:%22Jed+Rothwell%22> Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:28:10 -0700 <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]&q=date:20091014> I had a brief conversation at ICCF-15 with Takahashi about mixing in the Kitamura experiment. I got the impression that they use some sort of mechanical mixing, but that is incorrect. He sent me an e-mail that clarifies the situation: We do not need stirrer (magnetic or else), as our spiral Cu coolant tube wound on to the reactor cell is long enough and with small diameter. Actually, his paper says this. I should have paid closer attention: "A sheath heater and a cooling water pipe made of copper are wound on the outer surface of the reaction chamber . . ." Kitamura, A., et al., Anomalous effects in charging of Pd powders with high density hydrogen isotopes. Phys. Lett. A, 2009. 273(35): p. 3109-3112. A copper tube explains a lot. Let me explain the source of confusion on my part. The calorimeters I am familiar with use something like a plastic tube with a fairly large inner diameter, say ~5 mm. The temperature probe is inserted into the tube via a screw-in hatch (which often leaks). The tube has to be large enough to fit the probe, which sits in the flow of water. With a flow rate as low as 6 ml/min, I would expect streamlines and thermal gradients making the measurement inaccurate. That is what I learned working with a variety of calorimeters. A copper tube is quite different. From the schematic, it looks like the thermocouple is placed on the outside of the tube tube. The heat from the water conducts evenly throughout the copper and the temperature sensor measures the average temperature of the water. This is similar some of the calorimeters made by Miles, where he wrapped the cell in a copper sleeve and then measured the temperature outside the cell wall. Also, since there is no temperature probe in the tube, it can have a small diameter, so the water will move fairly quickly without streamlines. If the copper tube were exposed to the air this would not work, but you can see from the figure that it is wrapped around the cell which is inside another cell, so this is not an issue. The Miles calorimeter is also a cell inside a larger cell. I have been fretting about this low flow rate for a long time, because I have never heard of a flow calorimeter that works at less than ~30 ml/min. A copper pipe with this arrangement is a different animal. Preconceived ideas about small details often lead to incorrect conclusions. - Jed
