Eric,
The resistive heating requirement is to be able to reverse the temperature excursion at the proper time by removing the extra input. Constant heat input will result in the destruction of the device when useful output power is generated. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Eric Walker <[email protected]> To: vortex-l <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, Jun 2, 2013 2:39 pm Subject: Re: [Vo]:Ethics of the E-Cat investigation put into question On Sat, Jun 1, 2013 at 3:54 AM, Joshua Cude <[email protected]> wrote: But the ecat just uses electricity to make heat. So if the ecat already makes heat, it should self-sustain on that. Like combustion. I passed over this point too quickly. One question is why in Rossi's device the heat generated by the reaction would not be sufficient to sustain the reaction, as in combustion, without some kind of external drive. This does seem like an odd requirement. Giving Rossi the benefit of the doubt, the fact that an external stimulus is required in the form of resistance heating (also heat, as has been pointed out), this seems to indicate that one of two phenomena, or both, would need to be occurring: The general area of the reaction is somewhat localized, and the normal thermal gradient that would lead heat to dissipate from that location must be countered from outside of it by the resistance heaters, so that sufficient heat is retained in that area. The reaction depends upon a flux of heat, and not simply elevated an temperature on its own. My knowledge of thermodynamics is limited, so I might be missing something important. Eric
