On Jan 31, 2006, at 8:29 AM, Jed Rothwell wrote:
Anyway, this discussion is irrelevant, in a sense, because there is
no question there was a huge burst of anomalous energy underwater
before the explosion, so even if the explosion was caused by
recombination of gas in the incubator, that does not begin to
explain the anomalous heat in the cell.
I made no attempt to explain the heat in the cell, only to explain
the blast effects. These are separate issues.
The blast effects do not indicate the energy came from within the
cell.
I do not see how that could be. Why would the cell shatter in all
directions if the explosion was outside of it? Those cells are made
of heavy-duty glass.
As I explained earlier. The black top is conical, tapered on the
sides. An overpressure would have driven that downward and forced
the top glass sides outward. The shards remaining in place at the
bottom indicate an overpressure explosion. Had the force been
internal to the cell the bottom pieces and the material below would
have been pulled apart. The fact the Tygon tubing remains intact is
another indication the main explosion was not internal to the cell.
The fact the glass shards made it out of the incubator while leaving
the door intact indicates the door was opened prior to their arrival,
which is fully consistent with an overpressure explanation, but not
with the source of the blast energy being within the cell.
A high volume low energy density blast makes sense of the blast
effects. The explosion and the excess heat can have separate causes
and separate energy sources.
It seems unlikely to me. As Bockris and Mizuno have pointed out,
recombination explosions are common during electrochemistry
experiments. They usually amount to a small pop that breaks the
emergency valve. In Mizuno's case, this "valve" is usually an
ordinary plastic drinking straw bent into a "V" shape and plugged
into two holes at the top of the cell, like a cork. It it offers
little resistance. I do not think he had a valve in this case, but
anyway, that is the extent of an ordinary explosion.
Exactly. This is even more evidence the majority of the blast energy
originated outside the cell - assuming the blast is hydrogen fueled,
a possibility that is not ruled out by an excess heat excursion in
the cell.
Horace Heffner
