Oops. 3 kWh in 15 minutes, not 4. 10,800 kJ. Assuming the eCat weighs 10
kg and it is mostly carbon steel the temperature goes up 2,200 K, not
2,930 K. I guess it has to go up this much starting at 100°C, in order
to cool down to 100°C after releasing 3 kW. That's 373 K + 2,200 K which
is 2,573 K, or 2,300°C which is far above the melting point of carbon
steel (1,540°C).
You can't possibly heat up anything that much with ordinary resistance
heaters.
Even if the flow rate was much slower, and the heat was 3 kW (the limit
to what an ordinary wire can deliver) and the thing weighs 30 kg (about
as much as two professors can easily lift), this is still far out of the
question. Reasons:
3 kWh / 4 = 0.75 kWh = 2700 kJ. Divide by 30*0.49 and that's 184 K plus
373 K which is 557 K = 284°C.
1. It would have to "store up" heat before the 15 minute
heat-after-death incident. How could it do this, while vaporizing the
water flowing through?
2. The entire mass of metal would have to get 284°C, and the part with
the electric heater a lot hotter than this. Someone would notice. That
is assuming it is perfectly insulated and there is no heat lost to the
surroundings from the machine, which is impossible. It would have to a
lot hotter, actually. I think the insulation would burn.
- Jed
