All electrolytic cathodes eventually die. Many work for weeks and can
be removed from the cell and be restarted. But, at some point, the
energy production stops. I suspect so much material is deposited on
the surface and so much stress is created by changes in composition
that the active cracks grow too big to support the LENR process. This
lack of stability is one of the major limitatons in using electrolysis
to study LENR. Nevertheless, the amount of power and the resulting
extra energy is too great to be explained by any chemical process.
Even creation of tritium stops after a awhile, never to start again.
Very frustrating!!
As for why some worked and some did not, I know of only two useful
criteria. The Pd must load to high D/Pd and it can only do this if
excessive cracks do not form throughout the metal. Most Pd forms
internal cracks I call excess volume. In addition, the surface must be
free of poisons that slow reaction with the resulting D2 gas.
Violante determined that crystal size and its preferred orientation
was also important. Nevertheless, I have made thin deposits of Pd on
an inert metal work and several other people have made codeposition
make heat, although I have not had success with this method. People
keep looking for the critical feature, but I believe they have not yet
looked at small enough scale to see the active sites, which I believe
are in the 1-5 nm range.
Ed
On Feb 21, 2013, at 10:22 AM, Mark Gibbs wrote:
A question for Ed:
On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 6:56 AM, Jed Rothwell
<[email protected]> wrote:
The definition of "success rate" in these experiments is fuzzy. Ed
stated with 90 cathodes. He tested them and identified 4 that met
all of his criteria. These 4 worked robustly, and repeatedly. So, is
that a 5% success rate, starting from the 90 cathodes? Or is it a
100% success rate, with the 4 good ones?
Regarding the four cathodes that "worked robustly, and
repeatedly" ... how long did they work for? Are they still working?
Do you know why they worked? Can working duplicates be made?
[mg]
