At 03:27 AM 7/17/2011, Damon Craig wrote:
Uhhh. I give up. How is a kink in a thermal curve evidence of exothermic activity?
It's unclear what Damon is responding to. However, a change in the slope of a heating curve will generally indicate some variation in condition, such as changed input power or locally generated power. It's a rough calorimetric technique, to determine what slope corresponds to what immediate power.
If it were known that input power was constant, a sudden change in slope could indicate additional power being applied. It is thus "evidence." But it is certainly not proof, because that shift could be a result of something else, such as a suddenly decreased coolant flow rate.
Remarkably, the Kullander and Essen data shows this phenomenon, with apparent power doubling or tripling as the coolant temperature passed sixty degrees. This apparent power is much lower than what was asserted from overall heating on the assumption of full vaporization, but no clear evidence for full vaporization was shown.
The Lewan demo shows no such clear increased heating phenomenon, so that data is even more puzzling.
