On Jan 13, 2006, at 4:13 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: Horace Heffner
All over the place is literature that refers to hydrogen adsorbed
in Pd etc. as a *hydride*.
The above reference even says: "Hydrides can be roughly classified
into three main types by the nature of bonding and structure:
Ionic hydrides
Covalent hydrides
Transitional metal hydrides, interstitial hydrides."
Apples can be divided into 3 main types:
Macintoshes
Apple II's
Others
So, does this mean my Mac is not an Apple, but rather a golden
delicious?
<><><><><><>
Don't get too defensive, Horace.
Not defensive. Just poking fun at bad logic. I should have used a
smiley. 8^) I just have to wonder if that application is just a
troll, or maybe a student project.
I do not see this an a threat to your AEH.
Any hypothesis is only as good as nature allows it to be.
As all hypotheses, you might require some refinement. Consider
that the xtal lattice acts as a proton membrane, not unlike those
of a fuel cell. If you are right and the H atom cannot enter the
lattice with its electron, it IS clearly entering the lattice.
Once in the lattice, the proton carries along an electron with it in
the conduction band. The electron initially is supplied by current
to the cathode. The proton that enters the cathode from the
electrolyte has no electron with it to begin with. It is part of an
H3O+ cation called hydronium. Some of the hydronium is electrolyzed
by electrons that tunnel through the two molecule thick interface,
and these protons result in evolved hydrogen. However, some of the
protons make it in the other direction through the interface to the
lattice, and are there adsorbed. Upon adsorption they are paired
with an electron, at least statistically paired with one electron on
net balance. Hydrogen nuclei can singly tunnel through the face
holes, but when doing so the lattice adjusts charge via phonons, with
the proton still ending up paired with a net electron at its hop
location. When the proton ends up in a space not large enough for
the hydrogen atom to form, the paired electron resides in a partial
orbital which applies pressure to the lattice. The electron in the
partial orbital is found some of the time in the conduction band and
some of the time in the orbital near the proton. In the tetrahedral
site in Pd there is room for a complete hydrogen molecule H2, with
just a bit of pressure on the lattice, a few percent expansion. A
proton have an electron in a partial orbital doesn't stay put long
because the pressure differential makes hopping energetically
favorable. Favorable that is until fugacity reaches a critical point
and the hydrogen forms lots of back-to-back sites filled with H2
molecules that drops the tunneling rate substantially, blocks
diffusion, causes lattice expansion, and reduces lattice conductivity.
But, is it the lattice which strips the electron? And where does
that electron go?
The electron is statistically there to begin with, supplied to the
conduction band by the power supply. The proton has to have an
energetic point to tunnel to enter the lattice. As the proton of a
hydronium radical approaches the vicinity of the cathode there is an
mirror charge image induced on the cathode (kind of like an electron
work function, only in reverse.) By the time the proton tunnels to
the site there is merely a phonon adjustment required to accommodate
the new field.
I think that you could very well be right that it is the expansion
of the H+ ion which distorts the lattice -- a reverse piezo
effect? Except in piezo, it's the EXTERNAL piezo distortion which
generates the energy; whereas, the reverse effect could draw from
the virtual field.
<><><><><><>
The verbiage in patent applications must be very rigorous,
especially in the claims, but the claims generally use terminology
from the description, which then so defines that terminology.
<><><><><><>
Well, the patent HAS been rejected twice.
<><><><><><>
Of side interest I see it says: "The dihydrogen molecule (H2)
shares electron with palladium in some yet unknown manner and hides
itself within the spaces of the palladium metal crystal structure."
This person hasn't seen the literature on partial orbitals yet. 8^)
<><><><><><>
Horace, YOU can change/modify the wiki article. Insert your ideas
and see what happens!
I'll just wait till my crackpot ideas show up there represented as
some kind of fact and then point out they are crackpot ideas. 8^)
Respectfully,
No need for any respect!
Irreverent incorrigible curmudgeon,
Horace Heffner
PS: Hey, that new spelling checker works wonders! 8^)
