At 05:05 PM 10/30/2009, Jed Rothwell wrote:
Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:
The idea that excess heat is easier to detect reliably than
radiation is downright weird.
It is. But not so much if you assume that in some cases the reaction
produces only heat and no particles. Also, when the particles in
question are neutrons, you are probably missing most of them.
It's actually quite unclear. You are making gross generalizations,
Jed, and while they are based in extensive experience, it may be
necessary to reinterpret some of that experience. Absolutely, most
neutrons pass undetected. Which is why if there are as many proton
knock-on tracks as SPAWAR is showing for a gold cathode, it at least
two different plots I've seen, there are a hell of a lot of neutrons!
But obviously other reactions don't show the neutrons. But .... what
was the heat from those reactions? I don't know. What I've seen are
reactions where there were two or three kinds of cathodes: gold,
platinum (and originally, silver). As those were mixed cells, there
is practically no way to tell which electrode has more heat. I've
been assuming that silver is still generating NAE and heat and
alphas. What if it's not? What if, as I wrote in a previous post,
what were thought to be alphas were actually knock-on protons? SPAWAR
is still working on characterizing the particles.
However, from helium results, frankly, I do expect that the primary
radiation is alpha, but that much of it is promptly absorbed by a
layer of palladium deuteride, then some substantial distance it must
pass through electrolyte, before it can get to the detectors. The
palladium deuteride deposit is a fractal, in the images I've seen,
it's not solid material, it's dendritic; this isn't the same as bulk palladium.
Since neutrons come and go and they are not found in fixed numbers
compared to the heat (not scalar, as Mike Carrel put it), they must
be the product of a secondary reaction or an usual mode that occurs
sometimes and not other times.
Sure. Perhaps. However, because of the lack of uniformity in
experiments, we don't know much about that. What if, codep, gold, the
levels are very consistent with the same experimental conditions?
One particle can be detected, and, under the right conditions, even
characterized, and with its energy being estimated . . .
You cannot actually detect only 1 particle with typical equipment.
You can detect it, but telling the difference between it and a
background track is the problem. But, Jed, suppose it's a cloud
chamber and you see that the track originated at the experimental
source. You can't reliably detect one neutron, but you can get up in
the double digit percentages, I understand, with a moderator.
You have to be down in a salt mine with all kinds of fancy
coincidence detection stuff, that confirms the particle came from
within the cell and not from outside. (I have read and edited a
number of papers about that, and a chapter of a book, so I have
what you might call mechanical knowledge of it.)
Goes to show.
There is no question you can detect particles at a far lower level
than heat with a normal nuclear reaction. However, cold fusion does
not appear to be normal. In his ICCF-15 presentation Srinivasan
discussed the orders-of-magnitude differences between the expected
number of particles and what is actually found.
I'll want to read that, of course. But what is the "expected number
of particles"? You can see every alpha that makes it to the detector
with enough energy left, but ... how many didn't make it? Neutrons,
on the other hand, can only statistically be counted, there is no
guarantee that any individual neutron will be detected. However, for
the same reason, neutrons may be a more reliable signal, when they
are being generated, and I had proposed using a substance that
generated neutrons under alpha bombardment, like beryllium. I'm going
to stay away from beryllium because of the toxicity, I think.
However, that might be done. Get some beryllium up close and personal
with the codep deposit, maybe even dope the electrolyte with
beryllium, or use beryllium plating.
But maybe gold is serving that purpose.
