If we overlook the issue of naming the ultimate source of thermal gain in LENR, then the simple process of building a system which oscillates from order-to-disorder and back again, sequentially and rapidly without corresponding input and at rates of change which are high (terahertz), then we are poised to find anti-entropy and a significant anomaly. Order <-> disorder <-> order is adequate for gain, with or without a nuclear pathway.
The visual argument looks like this to the mind's eye. A checkerboard is ordered, as is a blackboard, but a blackboard splattered with red splotches is disordered. Red and black in this metaphor are magnetic polarities. The checkerboard is the anti-ferromagnet. It is not as fully ordered as the blackboard, but more ordered than the splotches. The further analogy is that it is easier to flip to all-black polarity from the checkerboard, than from the splotched board since the pattern is regular. Antiferromagnetism is a "wild card" in magneto-thermodynamics, since it is partly randomized and partly ordered, more randomized at increasing temperature but would be ordered if the material had an extreme Néel temperature. Generally, antiferromagnetic order exists at low temperature, vanishing at the Néel temperature. Notably nickel oxide has an anomalously high Néel temperature. Ferrimagnetism can be involved here, but complicates the main analogy. NiO and Ni also have another interesting feature when the two are found together, the Néel temperature and Curie point are close together - and appear to be in the range where LENR is triggered - between 260 C and 350 C with a Ni-oxide coated nanosphere. A continuous oscillation between ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism in an ideal material should create anti-entropy. Check out this material which has been mentioned before: http://qsinano.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/qsi_nano_nickel_ni_5_oct_09.pd f On paper this should be the ideal LENR material - having both nano nickel as a core, and a coating of NiO... however, it has not worked for some experimenters. The devil is in the details, and there appear to be several missing details in a nanomagnetism hypothesis. Does Rossi have an answer ? We should know soon, and hopefully it will be this week. _____________________________________________ There is a paper- "First Principles study of Electronic structure, structural Properties and superconductivity of Nickel Hydride" with the following relevant information: "Our result conclude, a non occurrence of superconductivity in NiH. But, due to the addition of hydrogen atom we observe superconductivity in NiH2 and NiH3. The estimated Tc values for NiH2 and NiH3 are 5.5K and 10K respectively. Also, it is found that as the pressure increases, the Tc value also increases" http://wjst.wu.ac.th/index.php/wjst/article/downloadSuppFile/231/27 In Ahern's work for EPRI, based loosely on Arata's work, he achieved hydrogen loading of > 4:1 in an alloy of Ni(95%)-Pd(5%). However, this alloy was not his best performer for thermal gain, but it did load -by far- the most hydrogen. The gain was much better than with Pd-H or Ni-H. Curiously nickel alone does not load well. Details like this are what is so annoying (devilish) about LENR, where the common belief is that hydrogen loading correlates with gain. There is evidence of this correlation with deuterium, but not with hydrogen. Otherwise the best advice which could be given to Mizuno would be to add 5% Pd to his nickel. BTW ... although NiH4 would not be superconductive at temperatures where excess heat is triggered, at least not in the normal sense, there is a mounting suspicion that materials which are superconductive at low temperature may retain something unusual at high temps ... and it involves magnetism and "nano". That "something" can be labeled as "local superconductivity". Local superconductivity would look a lot like spintronics in nanoparticles. The Meissner effect would then itself be local and would cause extreme antiferromagnetic "ordering" in nanoparticles (which are relatively mobile). Note: many experts do not yet fully recognize antiferromagnetism as another kind of ordering ... but it can be, especially in the extreme case. And the interesting thing is that antiferromagnetism can emerge from a state of increasing disorder. At least in a philosophical sense, when there is anti-entropic oscillation between ordered and disordered states, there exists the potential for an energy anomaly.
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