On Sep 9, 2007, at 1:24 PM, Jones Beene wrote:
Horace
> Ah yes, it's that sometimes delusional pre-experiment glow I
must be feeling!
Problem is - I don't see this working more robustly than the old
Clarendon dry pile without getting down to "nano" tolerances, and
possibly to exotic materials.
Here is a calculation using H2 as charge transporter at room
temperature, to demonstrate the robust possibilities.
Assumptions:
mean free path: 8x10^-8 m
collisions per second per molecule: 10^10/sec
wall-wall transfers/(second-molecule): 5x10^9
Density: 9 g/m^3
Gap width: 10^-7 m
Gap Area: 1 cm^2 = 10^-4 m^2
Computations:
Gap volume: (10^-7 m)(10^-4 M^2) = 10^-11 m^3
Hydrogen mass in gap = (10^-11 m^3)(9 g/m^3) = 9x10^-11 g
Molecules in gap = (9x10^-11 g)(6.022x10^23 molecules/mole)/(2 g/
mol)
= 2.7x10^13 molecules
Transfers/second = (5x10^9 trans/s-molecules)(2.7x10^13 molecules)
= 1.35x10^23 trans/sec
Max amps = (1.35x10^23 electrons/sec)(6.24 electrons/coul) =
2.2x10^4 amps
So the maximum feasible current density is 21 kA per cm^2 of
electrode area. If 1 in 21,000 electrode to electrode bounces
produces an electron transfer, we have an amp/cm^2 current density,
which is just about right for electrolysis. This is huge.
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
