From: Roarty, Francis X
* * I was thinking about catalytic action inside a Casimir cavity vs. an individual atom of catalyst. According to Moddel <http://www.calphysics.org/articles/Moddel_VacExtrac.pdf> "Assessment of proposed electromagnetic quantum vacuum energy extraction methods" "In the case of the Lamb shift the nucleus of the atom (a single proton for hydrogen) slightly modifies the quantum vacuum in its vicinity. The result is that the 2P1/2 and 2S1/2 orbitals, which should have the same energy, are slightly shifted since they spread over slightly different distances from the nucleus, and hence experience a slightly different electromagnetic quantum vacuum. Fran, Moddel is looking at this situation with blinders on. There are several ways to get excess heat from hydrogen via Casimir cavities that have come up here periodically for discussion, aside from variations on the fractional hydrogen theme. The Lamb shift is indicative of one of them. Another related way which is slightly more robust is called the "O-P Pump". There is actual proof of it, but unfortunately the best proof is cosmological, and happens near absolute zero. Once again - the Casimir cavity can substitute for "coldness" by reducing freedom of kinetic movement. Plus the gain is generally (and falsely) believed to be a remnant of the Big-Bang instead of ZPE. This came up a few years ago as a possible explanation to the Moller MAHG which was claimed to have a gigantic COP >20 until Naudin's silly measurement error was discovered by George Holz. BTW - side note - to his discredit, JLN has never acknowledged the error, and it is probably still on his site, alone with the MEG BS. You cannot trust Naudin's measurements, as a general rule. Actually, in the Moller device there could have been a smaller gain around COP~2, and that is where this O-P Pump explanation fits better to the circumstances. BTW - this would also explain Arata-Zhang and some LENR excess heat results at low delta-T if it were not for transmutation or ash. If you want the complete explanation - here goes. Sorry for the long post. Molecular hydrogen occurs in two isomeric forms, one with spin aligned parallel (orthohydrogen), the other with its two proton spins aligned antiparallel (parahydrogen). Let's call them O and P. They are the actors in the O-P Pump play. When the spin flips, a photon is always emitted or absorbed, and a tiny amount of heat is transferred. At high pressure, the flipping could happen at rate measured in terahertz (blackbody kinetic rate) so even a tiny heat difference (micro-eV) is magnified in certain conditions. At room temperature and thermal equilibrium, hydrogen/deuterium consists of 25% P and 75% O. This is a reflection of the spin degeneracy ratio, but if thermal equilibrium between the two forms is established, the para form will tend to dominate at lower temperatures and the ortho will dominate at higher (~ 99.8% P at 20 K). The result is microwave radiation - so this is not a "radiationless" transfer. Since there is that small energy gap, this will allow a delta-T to exist in different parts of an apparatus, based on the surface catalysis of P to O at a high transaction rate, due to pressure. Unless ZPE is put into play somehow, there should be no *net gain or loss* - just a small difference in two parts of an apparatus. Spin flipping results in the emission of a 5.9 x10^-6 eV photon - which is small and is also is the characteristic "signature" of cosmic background radiation (CMB) so there are plenty of detectors designed to find it. Without claiming any kind of net energy gain, the energy of "hyperfine spin exchange" together with the collision frequency could possibly produce a Delta-T asymmetry which is persistent over time in the range of one degree, within an apparatus, or *if* ZPE steps in to makes up the difference from the photon emission, then a net gain could show up. Otherwise there will be a cooling effect. At least that is my hypothesis to shoot down, and the falsifiability of this mechanism would be microwave radiation that can be measured in a known spectrum, including the famous 21 cm line (1420 MHz) and a few others related to water lines, but it would demand a very sensitive receiver, one would think. One final thought, since this reasoning may not be clear: orthohydrogen molecules make up 75% of "normal" hydrogen at room temperature. If you convert some of them (catalytically or in a cavity) to parahydrogen they will give up a small amount of heat and vice-versa. Normally that heat would be recaptured by some conservative mechanism. This is where the "inversion temperature" comes into play in cosmology. This goes back to systemic differences in Boyle law with a few gases in those circumstances where the 'normal' effect of cooling when a gas expands is suspended- i.e. the *inversion temperature* which in air (oxygen or nitrogen) is way too high to matter - but for H2 it is 205 K - so the ability of H2 gas to recover heat given up is limited at low temperature, especially under pressurization or vacuum. Normally it would be limited to contact with the metal containment. If hydrogen, initially at a moderate temperature is expanded, its temperature is expected to decrease since a temperature reduction via the Joule-Thomson effect. However, since the inversion temperatures of hydrogen is lower than ambient, it comes into play and H2 can actually heat on expansion. This is perhaps another indication of common ZPE effects that are not explained well by the standard model. Jones
