Horace Heffner wrote:
What scale? What is the evidence such a heat release actually took place?
I do not know how Jones Beene computed a 17,000 deg C temperature rise (presumably in a small area on the cathode). The energy release that is clear is 132,000 joules in 15 seconds, based on the three RTD readings in the electrolyte. This works out to 8,800 W average power. Concentrated in the area of the cathode that would cause a high temperature. The cathode was incandescent -- white in the visual range.
Actually, 8,800 W is a large underestimation for two reasons: 1. Much of the heat went directly into pyrolysis, which does not raise the water temperature. 2. Every indication is that the heat continued to increase rapidly after the last data point was taken. We do not know how many seconds elapsed from the time of the last data point until the explosion. It could not have been more than five seconds. In any case, there was a rapid upward trend, so there must have been thousands more joules of heat released. In the last few seconds, a pronounced thermal gradient appeared. This means there was an extremely concentrated point source of heat in the water, because the water was rapidly and thoroughly mixed by the magnetic stirrer, and normally you do not see a large gradient, even during an intense glow discharge reaction. (You would if the RTDs were placed close to the cathode, but they aren't.)
- Jed
