Claudio C Fiorini <[email protected]> wrote:
> An then... > > poff > > the ecat was "broken" before the test started. > I think what Daniel Rocha was asking you is: Do you count the November 2012 test, when the cell melted, as one that went "poff"? The ecat was definitely broken. Despite that, the results were interesting, as Levi et al. explained in their paper. Rossi has had several other tests that failed, sometimes spectacularly. In research of this nature, failure is always an option. It is routine. It does not cast doubt on the successful results. On the contrary, if someone showed me an experiment which never fails I would suspect the result is an instrument artifact rather than a real effect. A real cold fusion reaction is inherently difficult to replicate and it is unstable. Real high temperature cold fusion reactors have a tendency to melt or explode. Or they do not work at all, just when you experts are assembled and waiting. When Rudolph Diesel was first developing his engine several of his prototypes burst or exploded. As I mentioned, many of the first generation US rockets built in the 1950s exploded, and rockets tend to explode even today. High temperature experimental devices that are not yet well understood -- and that are operated at the extreme edge of present-day capabilities -- tend to fail, sometimes catastrophically. This is especially true when a device is operated at the knife edge between going out of control and operating at maximum temperature, which is what many people here suspect the ECat is doing. I have said I am confident that in the future a high COP device will be developed. That is not to say I think the present device could be operated at a higher COP. Clearly, it is on the verge of going out of control and melting or exploding. What I'm suggesting is that after a great deal more research and after the reaction is well understood, people will find ways to tame the reaction and make it work safely at a higher COP. If you look at an early Otto cycle automobile engine or diesel engine, or aviation engines up to around 1950, you will get the impression that this is a barely controlled reaction that might easily ignite the fuel hose or carburetor and then whole entire gas tank. That is exactly what happened with some of the early motors and many airplanes in flight. Engine fires were common. - Jed
