Re: [Vo]: Cold Fusion skeptic Dr. Michael Shermer

[Jed Rothwell]

Edmund Storms wrote:

Excess energy from electrolysis is seldom over unity. Energy in 
excess of that applied to the cell is the only important measurement 
during such studies. My latest excess energy is about 2.5 W for a 
calorimeter with an error of about 25 mW. The cell was not designed 
to maximize the efficiency. Therefore, the Power out/Power in ratio 
has no meaning.

It has no meaning in the sense that it does not predict whether cold 
fusion can be made practical. It tells us nothing about whether one 
technique is more promising than another in the long term. However, a 
high ratio does make the calorimetry easier. That is to say, it is 
easier to measure 2.5 W with 5 W of electrolysis input than with 35 W 
input. (The input power is sometimes called the "background," as in 
"a 5 W background.") It resembles instrument noise in this respect, 
except that electrolysis input is a deliberate and inescapable part 
of the experiment. Gas loading and some other methods have no input 
background power, so they are easier to confirm with a high s/n ratio.

- Jed