Andy Findlay <[email protected]> wrote: > > You state that the Wigner effect cannot produce megajoules per mole - well > that is the sort of information I'm looking for but could you point me to a > paper . . .
According to <ahem, cough, cough> Wikipedia: "Accumulation of energy in irradiated graphite has been recorded as high as 2.7 kJ/g, but is typically much lower than this . . ." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigner_effect Cold fusion cathodes of roughly 1 g have produced more than that in many cases, and in a few cases 50 to 150 MJ. In the debate between Fleischmann and Morrison I linked to, the cathode produced 1.1 MJ. As I recall it was small, probably ~1 g. Most of F&P's early cathodes were small. The Wigner effect appears to be a form of mechanical storage, as near as I can tell. Generally speaking, when you talk about chemical or mechanical energy storage -- with electron bonds, in other words -- the upper limit is about 4 eV per atom of material. Store more than that and the molecules fall apart. You get plasma, I suppose. Cold fusion devices have produced hundreds to thousands of eV per atom, and the upper limit is unknown. Anyway, Morrison was talking about the power level, which is irrelevant. No one has ever claimed the cold fusion is nuclear based on the power level. The power from a sample of impure radium is very low, but the sample remains hot for thousands of years, so the energy release is immense. I expect that if you could arrange to keep a gas loaded cold fusion device gas tight for hundreds of years, it would release heat the whole time, so the overall energy release would be immense. - Jed
