2009/11/3 Abd ul-Rahman Lomax <[email protected]>: ... >>> It should be noted that the SPAWAR video is showing the back side >>> of the cathode, not the side facing the anode. >> >> See Figure 1 of: >> >> http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/SzpakSpolarizedd.pdf >> >> It shows the camera on the outside, next the Mylar film, next the >> *unsealed* surface of the cathode. It appears to me there is >> electrolyte between the Mylar and the surface. My experience with >> anode spots is they form well on both sides. > > "unsealed surface"? The mylar film is a window into the cell. Next to it is > the cathode. And on the other side of the cell, apparently, not shown, is > the anode. However, the cathode was not a foil, as I wrote, but a "Ni > screen." It's still viewed from the "back," but it's more complex than I had > thought. Somehow I thought this was a foil cathode.
Yes, it's Ni screen, it's viewed from the back through a Mylar window and a thin layer of intervening electrolyte, and Horace is definitely right that the observed hot spots occur _on the back side_: http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/SzpakSlenrresear.pdf : <<The steep temperature gradients of the hot spots, Figure 1c, indicate that the heat sources are of high intensity and located very close to the contact surface. Figure 1. ...(b) View of the obverse side of the cathode showing the distribution of hot spots ranging from <29°C (purple) to >49°C (white). (c) Temperature gradients on the back side of the cathode.>> So, what is the direction of the deuterium flux through the back surface of a Pd cathode close to a plastic window do you think? Out, because electrolyte paths to get there are more resistive. This confirms my suggestion, earlier in this thread, that* the hot spots occur where the deuterium desorbs from Pd deuteride to D2 gas (not solvated D Horace), which chemically is an endothermic reaction.* Am I the only one to see how significant this is? Michel
