If one were to look closely at the “replication” as it has proceeded thus far – there are already several significant variations from Mizuno’s procedure, besides the lack of RGA/MS.
The heater is not the same – the silver solder was not in the original, the water used to rinse was not the same, and so on. Should Deneum see significant thermal gain – it will not become a true replication, even if they do add a mass-spec. That move is an unneeded delay, and actually seems to be a waste of time and resources at this juncture. They should stay the course. Let someone else dot every i. There are candidates for that. My hope therefore is that Deneum will continue with repeated similar runs over the coming days, basically repeating the general strategy they have come up with - and report the results. Much can be learned from this. It is a reasonable expectation that there will be improvement over time - and we could be in for a pleasant surprise within a week or two - even though it is not a true replication. Perhaps one of the many other experimenters around the globe – the ones who received a reactor directly from Mizuno - will be the best candidate to do a true replication. It is unrealistic and even counter-productive to imagine that Deneum would stop everything and make all of the changes which would be needed for true replication when they could be on the verge of seeing something very important - which is similar enough that it will expand the knowledge base greatly. From: Jed Rothwell JonesBeene wrote: You seem to be missing the point… and adding a dose of silly pedantry to boot. The goal here is to clean and completely degas the reactor --- NOT to learn the identity of the last bit of gas which was removed. Mizuno and other experts have told me that without a mass spec, you cannot tell whether you have cleaned and degassed the reactor. There may be materials in the wall of the reactor or the mesh that come out gradually. Also, if you bake it at the wrong stage, you cause materials to stick to the walls which are very difficult to get rid of. You need to check for them before you bake. Mizuno spelled out his methods in the paper. He said to use a mass spec. Other experts agreed with him. This experiment is hard enough to do with a mass spec and with the other recommended tools. People should not make it harder, or add to the unknowns and the guesswork. People who ignore the instructions may succeed despite that, but if they fail we will not know why. It is not really my business. My only concern is that they and others will say the instructions and the original experiment were flawed, even though they did not follow the instructions or do the experiment.
