Jones Beene wrote:
If loading was complete at the end of the plating stage, and only D2 was
absorbed, then this would tend to keep any later poisoning minimal, but
progressive - even when light water was used during the electrolysis.
This goes along with Craven's observation of progressive degradation of the
excess heating effect, over time.
I think there were other progressive changes to the beads that might
explain the degradation. The most obvious was the oxygen, which came
in the flow of water. It was a closed circuit. With an
electrochemical cell the oxygen bubbles up and never touches the
cathode. It either escapes from the cell or recombines. There were
readily apparent physical changes. You could see the beads become
physically damaged, with the thin film flaking and falling off. I do
not know if these changes were caused by oxygen or electrolysis
pressure or something else, but it was clear that the beads were
changing, and I assumed this was the cause of the degradation. It was
clearly not a practical way to generate useful amounts of energy.
Even a tiny bit of hydrogen, like ~1%, would have quashed a Pd-only
type reaction such as a Fleischmann-Pons cell. I am sure there was a
lot more than 1% getting in there with the use of ordinary water.
Still, it is quite possible that increased hydrogen was a
contributing factor to the degradation.
- Jed
