I sent Mizuno a short message partly in English,
including this sentence regarding the C-13 -- or whatever it is:
". . . the more mundane explanation is that the
mass spec is seeing C-H molecules."
He responded in Japanese. Below is a partial translation.
"A CH fragment is not possible . . . products
with M/e = 5 ~ 11 do not exist as organic matter.
Furthermore there are no organic ions of mass 13.
What combination of atoms would constitute a CH^+
ion? C2H2^2+ might be a possibility, but there is
no way you could synthesize this as a fragment . . .
If you want a bulletproof analysis I suppose it
would be best to oxidize the materials to make H2O and CO2."
He used the English word "fragment" here. I
believe what he means is that C2H2^2 can be
synthesized or built up (perhaps in multiple
steps?) but it cannot be a fragment created by
breaking down organic molecules.
I will ask him if that is what he means. If it
is, maybe we should add a sentence or two along these lines to the paper:
"The mass-13 species cannot be a CH molecule
created in the mass spectrometer because when
organic molecules are broken down, products with
M/e range from 5 to 11 are not created. C2H2^2+
might be a possible candidate, but this cannot
appear as a fragment from decomposed organic
molecules, but only from synthesis."
To change the subject, Ed Storms and others here
have commented that this experiment is somewhat
crude or unready for publication. I agree, and I
think Mizuno would also agree. However, I have
been pushing him for many months to publish it
anyway, ready or not. I should explain why.
Mizuno faces mandatory retirement in April 2009,
the end of the academic year in Japan. The
university is trying to push him out of his
office by the end of December because they want
to renovate the space for the next researcher. He
has already had to pack up most of his equipment,
and move some of the instruments that he
personally purchased to his house. There is not
room for all of the instruments, books and
materials. He went around sounding out other
professors asking if they want experimental
equipment. Most of them do not because, he
explained, "nowadays people do not do experiments."
I do not know what these other professors do
instead of experiments. Computer simulations?
He is saving many of his papers & notebooks by scanning them into PDF format.
Anyway, a large chunk of 40 years of work is
going into the dumpster. There may be a way for
him to continue with this research after he
retires, but I would not bet on it, so this is
the last chance he will have to reveal this research.
You have to realize that Mizuno teaches a full
load of courses in conventional electrochemistry.
He has full-time employment. You also have to
realize that the university and the Ministry of
Education despise cold fusion and together they
have done everything short of firing him to
prevent him from doing this research. In the
upcoming ICCF-14 Japan country history, Kasagi
and Iwamura point out that there are now only
three groups in Japan still allowed to do cold
fusion: Kasagi, Arata, and Mizuno. The Min. of
Ed. is trying to shut them all down, once and for
all. The official reasons are the same as those
given in the U.S.: they have committed to plasma
fusion; cold fusion is pathological science; it
has never been replicated; etc. They even cite the DoE.
Mizuno has been working with creosote for five or
10 years, but this along with all of his cold
fusion research has been strictly on the side,
during his nonexistent spare time, paid for and
conducted entirely with his nonexistent spare
personal funds. He conducted the creosote
experiments using left-over equipment from old
experiments. He started out with a large cell
which is far from ideal for this purpose --
actually it is rather dangerous -- but it was available, so he used it.
The calorimetry is still not great, but it is
better than it was a few years ago. It was
improved by doing a calibration with the heater
inside the cell stimulating heat from a reaction.
Storms and I suggested this, and Mizuno agreed it
is a good idea. That particular change was harder
to make than you might think, for various reasons I will not get into.
The mass spectroscopy probably has many open
questions, but I think it is unlikely he will be
able to afford an outsourced analysis of this
material in the future, even if he can continue
with research somehow. So this is probably the
best we are going to get. As I see it, it is
better to publish something than nothing. This
research was lost for 60 years, and it will be
lost forever unless someone pays attention to Mizuno.
So anyway, there he is surrounded by boxes of who
knows what. Jones Beene and Brian Ahern asked him
for a sample of the material. He responded:
"Regarding leftover sample materials, I am
looking through the boxes now to see if I have
any. I think I kept some of the materials. If I
find some I will send it. An analysis of this
material would be greatly appreciated. . . ."
One final note --
Under the circumstances, the suggestion that
Jones Beene made that some graduate student
should be assigned to read Mills is quite out of
the question. I wouldn't be surprised if they
used something that as a pretense to fire Mizuno.
From time to time, Schwinger, I and many others
have referred to the suppression of cold fusion.
We seldom give concrete examples because in most
cases the researchers are embarrassed, or if they
had revealed what was being done to them they
would get in even worse trouble. I have known
these details about Mizuno's situation for 12
years. I said little because I knew it would only
get him into more trouble. Now that the
university can no longer hurt him, it is okay to
discuss this. People who think that Schwinger and
I were exaggerating are naïve. People who imagine
this is some sort of organized conspiracy are
wrong, and should read the history of previous
breakthroughs and innovation. The suppression is
spontaneous, unorganized and instinctive. All new
ideas are suppressed -- good ones and bad ones
alike. Most good deeds are punished. This sort of
thing always happens although it has seldom been this bad.
- Jed
