In this study they looked at only a few particles of nickel. They found that nearly all of the nickel had been transmuted into another isotope. Presumably this was the source of the energy in the experiment. People wonder how Rossi could have arranged to make the nickel deplete just as the experiment was coming to an end. This does not seem possible because he did not know what power level they would run at. Midway through the experiment they raise the power level.
It occurs to me that perhaps if they were to look at many other particles they would discover different levels of depletion. Perhaps particles lying at the top of the pile in contact with the gas were used up, while others were not. Perhaps the gas has nothing to do with it since it appears to be ordinary air. That is unclear to me. Anyway, something triggered the reaction, perhaps heat from the rods. With ordinary cold fusion, some parts of the cathode are heavily loaded and undergo reactions that caused them to melt, while other parts of the cathode do not participate in the reaction at all. As Ed Storms often points out the NAE is not evenly distributed. Think of it as something similar to a pile of burning firewood. The surface of the wood burns first. As it burns away, air reaches the wood underneath and that burns. Not all of the fuel at all depths ignites at the same moment. - Jed
