Jones Beene wrote:
One further thought about the Thermacore runaway - is there a potential lesson there, for experiment design ? There could be one lesson which can be called - GO BIG... but also BEWARE if you go big. Perhaps there is something akin to critical mass, which is important for maximum gain, as in nuclear fission?
If there is a very small but non-zero chance for hydrogen to undergo certain transitions as it's adsorbed-desorbed from the catalyst material, then more than critical mass it could be a matter of critical volume of catalyst through which hydrogen travels before something occurs.
Perhaps that could explain why resonating systems are sometimes suggested to work well. They might be able to maximize hydrogen interaction events (defined as adsorption-desorption cycles) per unit of time with the catalyst.
Just a simple thought. Cheers, BA
