Jones wrote on 3-27-10: ... there is no need for a liquid if we can dispense with electrolysis.
IMHO this is probably a significant way in which LENR is maturing ... -- gas phase. Why not? There is little advantage to electrolysis as it actually hinders loading. The ~4:1 loading ratio of Arata (D:Pd) has been confirmed numerous times by independent experimenters. Efforts are underway from a few of those experimenters (at least one, anyway) to increase the low delta-T of A-Z by means of other energy input. That is obviously the way to proceed, as commercialization will demand a useable spread ... The easiest way to move beyond A-Z would be high voltage, but coherent light would certainly be interesting. ----------- Horace Heffner wrote on 3-27-10: High temperature cell operation is clearly necessary to achieve practical Carnot efficiencies. ----------- A Commentator wrote: *Cold fusion.* Fusion, i.e., the production of higher weight nuclei from lower weight ones, at low temperatures instead of at the high ones thought necessary. Non-thermonuclear fusion. Neutron-catalyzed? Okay, maybe. But what does that have to do with whether it's fusion or not? ------------- Another Commentator wrote: The sanest position here is no position. There is helium, and it's correlated at roughly the value for deuterium to helium conversion -- let's call that "fusion," okay? ----------- Horace Heffner wrote on 3-23-10: The term in question I think is "nuclear fusion". There are many definitions which do not mention the Coulomb barrier. However, it appears plasma fusion is often assumed. ------------- Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote: And the reason is obvious. Almost all known fusion is plasma, thermonuclear fusion. A.k.a. the brute force method. In the ACS press briefing, Peter Hagelstein called this kind of fusion "vacuum reactions" which I think is a good term. Regarding words and the definition of "cold fusion," I would like to remind readers that Humpty Dumpty was fundamentally right: [Source: Through the Looking Glass] `I don't know what you mean by "glory,"' Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. `Of course you don't -- till I tell you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"' `But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument,"' Alice objected. `When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.' `The question is,' said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many different things.' `The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master - - that's all.' ---------------- Hi All, 3-27-10 The discussion of the definition of "cold fusion" is fascinating. I find Humpty's position somewhat extreme, but not beyond the means of practical implementation, as pointed out in "1984", and as demonstrated by the effective financing of propaganda from the insurance companies during the recent health law debate. Thomas Hobbes' position is more to my taste: "Words are counters; and wise men only reckon with them; but they are the money of fools." The lazy-thinking thought in my mind is that cold fusion takes place at standard temperatue and pressure; but obviously that does not provide enough difference between heat source and heat sink to do useful work, which is a pessimistic position that should be rejected (would someone kindly give me another snapshot thought to define cold fusion?) Where I really have a problem is 'plasma fusion.' ``Almost all known fusion is plasma, thermonuclear fusion. Peter Hagelstein called this kind of fusion "vacuum reactions" ...'' ``The term in question I think is "nuclear fusion". ... it appears plasma fusion is often assumed.'' Is it possible to have room temperature and low pressure plasma cold fusion reactions? I can imagine cold fusion in space when deuterium encounters the right nanoparticles and is converted to helium. Is the background helium concentration a measure of this activity? If most of the universe exists as plasma, as suggested by Hannes Alfvén, could there be a lot of natural cold fusion going on? Jack Smith ---------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannes_Alfv%C3%A9n Hannes Alfvén - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ``Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (born 30 May 1908 in Norrköping, Sweden; died 2 April 1995 in Djursholm, Sweden) was a Swedish electrical engineer, plasma physicist and winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). He was originally trained as an electrical power engineer and later moved to research and teaching in the fields of plasma physics and electrical engineering. Alfvén made many contributions to plasma physics, including theories describing the behavior of aurorae, the Van Allen radiation belts, the effect of magnetic storms on the Earth's magnetic field, the terrestrial magnetosphere, and the dynamics of plasmas in the Milky Way galaxy.''
