At 09:27 PM 2/6/2011, Rich Murray wrote:
I am Rich Murray, [email protected] , and have suggested Feb. 5 and 6 that the Rossi device may have internal leaks that cause the electric heater to short out to the output water, electrolyzing water into hydrogen and oxygen in the cell and messing up the heat measurements, while creating the hazards of severe electric shock and explosions.
An "internal leak" would simply be another internal arrangement. It would be using input power to heat "output water," and because energy would be lost, perhaps, as hydrogen gas, *less* temperature rise would be seen, not more.
In other words, this possibility would be *completely irrelevant.* Right now, the Rossi device is a Black Box, with two apparent inputs: electrical power, as a supposedly measured level, and water, and an output: steam or, at least, very hot water, at the boiling point.
The only other inputs would be hidden, if there is fraud, and one of them might be some form of chemical energy storage or potential energy realized during the experiment.
As a thin possibility, Rossi might have accidentally discovered a new chemical mechanism. But this is inconsistent with his reports of more reliable and more extensive operation. Inventors sometimes exaggerate what they have done privately, because they are highly motivated to attract investors. So some shed of possibility of non-fraud combined with error exists. (The reports about prior work are legally irrelevant, they are "puffery," and generally don't created any cause of action unless they are very, very specific, and clearly fraudulent as shown by evidence later. Simple exaggeration doesn't create "fraud.")
so the question is, "Is the Rossi Black Box producing more power than is put into it?" Once the excess power, if seen, moves beyond known chemical possibilities, by a huge margin, we don't need to know what's in the box to conclude that something very important is being shown. There is, at the very least, some new chemistry.
Since we don't expect violation of the known conservation of mass/energy, if there is huge excess power, we come to a default hypothesis: a nuclear reaction of some kind, though if we are inclined to wilder speculations, there is always that generic idea: Zero Point Energy. I'm not putting any money on the ZPE slot on this roulette wheel. If I had a way to "sell short," at this point, I might make a modest investment.... and I might not, but I wouldn't bet the farm, either way.
