From: Stephen A. Lawrence
> If the reactor were generating 10% more power than needed to exactly boil off the water, just where do you think that excess power would go? Steven - it is you who is making the wrong assumption. You have missed the forest for the trees. Do you not see the blue box? Do you not appreciate its function? It contains five controllers that feed back temperature readings to control the heater tape. This is "differential heating" over and above the base level of heat produced by the reaction itself. If and when the reactor begins to heat up above the set level, over the known rate of heat removal due to pumping (predetermined, and based on prior runs) then the electrical input is instantaneously lowered. The water flow is constant but the temperature is modulated electrically by the in the "differential" zone. Get it? You can control 10 kW of net heating with only 400 watts of differential heating. Jed is (mostly but not entirely) correct. The logical error in your LOX comparison is clear. Oxygen cannot get hotter than its boiling point - so long as a significant mass of liquid oxygen remains nearby to effectively shield recently boiled-off gas from additional gain. PV = nRT is NOT involved at this stage. You have completely overlooked the obvious function of the five heater controllers. Jones
