On 2021-11-23 17:44, Jones Beene wrote:
Thanks for remembering this experiment from Simon Brink !
The effect is surprisingly large and my bet is that it only works well
with 316 grade SS.
If so - that would be good evidence for Mills' theory and the
importance of the lowest energy catalyst. Nickel alone should not work
as well.
As you suggest, eliminating color change should be attempted but for
those who follow Holmlid, another wrinkle would be using a laser pointer
To clarify, I've personally often observed plain steel turning black
with cathodic electrolysis at relatively high currents with alkaline
electrolytes like potassium hydroxide or carbonate, which should rule
out oxidation, but I haven't tested SS316. I think this is more likely
to occur if according to Simon Brink's diagram the applied voltage is
24V (it should generate large amounts of gas and heat), although the
experiment description in the same page says 6V or a bit more.
I don't think an ordinary constant wave (CW) laser pointer will work
well for Holmlid-type experiments; a Q-switched pulse laser might be
required. Nowadays relatively affordable entry level models exist for
cosmetic tattoo-removal and similar applications, which could be adapted
for these experiments, but still they require close to 1000$ at the least.
Perhaps, as for a Holmlid-type suggestion that might be useful here, the
plates could be coated with soot or fine graphite after drying. Not only
this will make surface conditions roughly even, but carbon might be able
to increase the chances of ultra-dense hydrogen formation from the
hydrogen-loaded plate (which should slowly release hydrogen after
electrolysis). Look for the keyword "carbon" in this open-access paper
for more details: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.02.221
Cheers, BA
