Jones--
Thanks for the clarification. I was getting ready to ask the question you
anticipated. I.E., Why is MgO2 important?
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jones Beene" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 10:24 AM
Subject: RE: [Vo]:Magnesium superoxide for hydrogen generation
Bob,
Before you catch the problem, let me clarify:
I have always assumed, maybe wrongly, that paired
electrons in a molecule or
atom were not a "singlet state" with 0 angular momentum and
an effective -2
charge.
That seems correct to me. This description of (e*) only
applies to “free electrons” which are unbound, not valence electrons, not
Cooper pairs. This is the species old Ben Franklin would have picked up with
his kite, prior to electrocution by a lightning bolt :-)
Ok, the difficulty with that comment (and using “only”) is that in the
original post, the (e*) was shown as participating in chemical reactions,
which it would need to do, if there was to be net gain in hydrogen
generation using this route.
Therefore the more accurate suggestion is that this chemical reaction
version may happen as a transient state - and that (e*) can replace a normal
electron is certain circumstances. However, obviously this cannot be the
normal case in chemistry. We are assuming an anomaly, and trying to explain
it, but importantly, this suggestion (of chemical participation) begs the
question: how do we provide a continuous supply of (e*) to fuel this kind of
gain?
I have no ready answer for that now…
… but if this type of reaction can indeed happen in practice, as they claim
- then I’m pretty certain that the pathway to discovery is opened-up - and
that the answer will be forthcoming to those who understand the mechanism.
Jones
