Mary Yugo's recent cogent comments re blank runs are here replicated for emphasis:
You keep saying that but it's not correct. The purpose of controls (more precisely, blank runs in which nuclear fuel is left out but an electrical heater is providing comparable power) is to demonstrate that the measurement *method* and *devices* are working correctly. This has been argued at length -- steam or no steam, thermocouple placements, errors from the hot side of the heat exchanger through the block, and so on. ALL of that is gone if a blank test with an electrical heater gives the correct result at the output measurement end. Rossi knows that -- he's been told many times by probably dozens of people. That he doesn't do it is a strong suggestion that his reaction isn't real. The purpose of a blank/calibration run, I say *again*, is to validate the measuring method and equipment. I know of no other iron clad way to do that. Without it, arguments about dryness of steam and thermocouple placement and pressure and endless others will continue. With a proper blank/calibration (if it's done correctly) all those arguments are untenable. It's ABSOLUTELY necessary. Any self respecting scientist would require it. I have no idea why you can't grasp that. It's usual and standard to calibrate calorimeters with electrical heaters. It's done every day! On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 11:01 AM, Mary Yugo <maryyu...@gmail.com> wrote: I need to add that a calibration run with an electrical heater supplying > all the heat also provides very valuable information about the heat > capacity and time constant of the system. > And finally, if hydrogen (but nothing else) is omitted for the blank run, > any chemical reaction or other subterfuge which is activated by heating > would be revealed. > > Of course other ways of cheating are not totally excluded but proper blank > and calibration runs would go a long ways to inconveniencing a potential > scammer to the extreme if astute observers were standing by. >
