On Jun 25, 2007, at 4:37 PM, Michael Foster wrote:
Several months back, I had my machinist build a very small Griggs
device for use in my work. Hydrosonics only sells really large
industrial size machines, or I would have just bought one. I was
interested in heating certain monomers and oligomers in an "instant
hot water" method.
My idea was to heat these fluids without their being exposed to a
hot surface, which often initiates unwanted polymerization. The
Griggs device is supposed to work in such a way as to heat the
liquids from the inside out. For boilers this is said to avoid the
typical scale buildup.
I eventually abandoned this idea, having found an easier, simpler
way to solve the problem. However, I discovered something that I
don't seem to find any reference to anywhere. Perhaps I don't know
where to look.
Liquids with a high Kerr constant appear to heat up much more
quickly and efficiently than say, water. Water, while polar, has a
relatively low Kerr constant. Nitrobenzene, on the other hand has
a very high Kerr constant and heats up very fast, with a relatively
low energy input. Don't try this at home, folks, nitrobenzen is
very poisonous.
I have no formal calorimetry on this as yet, but the difference is
so dramatic that the calorimetry should be relatively simple and
decisive. My point is this. If the Griggs device is even slightly
O/U with water, then with the right liquid it might somehow made to
put out useful energy.
Anyone know where I might find more info?
You probably are aware things with much higher Kerr constants than
nitrobenzene exist, which could be interesting:
http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?
prog=normal&id=RSINAK000035000012001679000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes
Interestingly, there is a viscosity anomaly associted with Benzene:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005PhRvE..71d1503S
The bad news is the fast heating is undoubtedly due to the low
specific heats. See:
http://www.diracdelta.co.uk/science/source/s/p/specific%20heat%
20capacity/source.html
Nitrobenzene is 1400 J/(kg K), while water is 4190 J/(kg K).
Nitrobenzene will heat up 3 times as fast with a given power input.
Water has viscosity 1x10^-3 Pa s, while nitrobenzene has 1.863 × 10
−3 Pa s, so nitrobenzene is more viscous, and thus should draw more
current to the motor as well. (This actually surprises me.) See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viscosity#Viscosity_of_various_materials
Regards,
Horace Heffner
