The most energy dense chemical fuel is liquid oxygen and hydrogen which combines to form water. It produces 285,800 J per mole. One mole of water is 16 g. Obviously the Rossi cell cannot hold liquid oxygen and hydrogen, or compressed H2 and O2 gas. It has to have some common liquid or solid chemical fuel.
Gasoline has the highest energy density of any ordinary chemical, by a wide margin. It produces 45 MJ per kilogram or 34 MJ per liter. To produce 50.4 MJ you need 1.5 L or 1.1 kg. I'm sure that after they open the Rossi cell the observers will find it is impossible to hide that much gasoline in the device. Gasoline also requires oxygen, in the ratio of 12 C to 32 O ignoring the other stuff in gasoline. 1.1 kg of gasoline would call for 4 kg of oxygen, presumably in a tank of compressed gas. You could not hide that in this machine either. See: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/co2.shtml As I pointed out previously, you cannot simply burn the gasoline in ambient air because you would asphyxiate the observers with carbon monoxide. Even if you did not kill them, I am sure people would notice the stench. The only way to do this is to hide both the fuel and oxidizer in the machine. Then you have to find a way to burn the fuel at a controlled rate without causing a large explosion. This calls for a great deal of equipment which is easy to spot. A 4 kW chemical heater cannot be any smaller than a table-top stove, which produces 2 or 3 kW (7,000 to 10,000 BTU/h) and looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Max-Burton-Table-Burner-Black/dp/B000G6S8Y8 Butane would be a lot safer and more practical than gasoline. It has high energy density per unit of mass. These butane canisters last about 2 hours at full power, I think. So for a 4 hour run you need to hide 4 or 5 of them. Plus you have to hide a large oxygen tank, because even though butane is safe to burn indoors anyone can smell it. This was a 12 hour run probably including a great deal of excess heat before heat after death, but we will pretend it was only 4. You have to keep the canisters separated from burner or -- as I said -- you will cause a large explosion. You cannot just cram all of this stuff into an enclosed metal box which you pretend is a cold fusion cell. Does anyone seriously think there could be this much equipment hidden in the Rossi reactor? If you think that is possible, you are a pathological skeptic who believes in miracles. Alan Fletcher has done much more detailed and exhaustive analyses of this issue, but I think the one I just wrote here is more realistic. - Jed
