This MFMP page (written by Robert Greenyer on 22 July 2015) could help you in your research of reactants.
"There is a lot of debate around what catalysts lead to successful LENR, one compound that seams to crop up again and again is various Iron Oxides."
But also these considerations about the Vysotskii reduction of Coulomb barrier and sharp conditions and the chinese CIAE experiment.
Another there.
One can, of course, buy nickel-coated alumina specifically for catalytic purposes; e.g. Sigma Aldrich product 208779
Although that particular one contains silica too
backyardfusion, could you elaborate on your "bolt method"? The description in your operational guide is unclear. Also possibly important to consider is that thermocouples measure temperature by means of the voltage generated by multiple joints between dissimilar metals at different temperatures -- so if your type K is touching your stainless inner chamber, you may get anomalous results.
Edited to add:
Regarding the "drilled hole in alumina tube" issue -- if you are not fanatical about having a cylindrical hole, I would recommend using a diamond wheel to cut a slot crosswise in the tube until a penetration of sufficient size is present. Diamond wheels suited for use on a Dremel-type rotary tool are inexpensively available, as are the tools themselves. I recommend doing this in water if possible...
Sorry I haven't replied sooner, between making an app, school assignments and some other stuff I'm not really allowed to talk about, I've been very busy lately and haven't had any spare time to come on here.
backyardfusion, could you elaborate on your "bolt method"? The description in your operational guide is unclear. Also possibly important to consider is that thermocouples measure temperature by means of the voltage generated by multiple joints between dissimilar metals at different temperatures -- so if your type K is touching your stainless inner chamber, you may get anomalous results.
Edited to add:
Regarding the "drilled hole in alumina tube" issue -- if you are not fanatical about having a cylindrical hole, I would recommend using a diamond wheel to cut a slot crosswise in the tube until a penetration of sufficient size is present. Diamond wheels suited for use on a Dremel-type rotary tool are inexpensively available, as are the tools themselves. I recommend doing this in water if possible...
That reminds me, I still need to update the operational guide.
I've learnt since writing the first draft of the guide that cutting alumina tube was so hard. Rookie mistake, my granddad kind of just suggested that as an afterthought and I didn't do any research. That won't happen again.
I'll update the OP to reflect the fact that I've decided to do a 1:1 replica of the Parkhomov experiment before tweaking/making it different. In regards to the type K thermocouple, I think I understand what you mean, but maybe not correctly. If I am, I've since rethought the rig to use both an inner and outer aluminium tube. Although as some suggested, an inner ceramic tube might be required. I'll have to think about that, my brains a little fried at the moment 
The bolt method is hard to explain, but I've got a pretty clear picture of it in my head. My granddad has suggested that if I use two aluminium tubes, I could thread the end plates in, but that leaves me with some air pressure and sealment concerns. It doesn't really matter how it is achieved, I essentially just want to be able to use the reactor, take off the end plants, load more fuel in and remove the old stuff, and use it again. That way I can test the rig multiple times in a day, equalling to a higher quantity of data. At least that's the idea.
I'm getting back to Sydney in 5 weeks now, but my extension professor has decided that apparently the thing has a high chance of exploding. I tried to walk him through the technical aspects and the safety risks and precautions, but I have a feeling he doesn't want to hear it. My regular science teacher however seems more enthusiastic, so when I get I'll have some in-person discussions and get that shit sorted out.
Edited to add:
I was just wondering, would anyone be able to tell me if based of any of the current theories 'Hot' LENR reactors would work in micro-gravity? Bit of an odd question I know. Also, just demographically, how many of you believe the EM drive holds some promise?
I don't see any impossibility for LENR in microgravity, even if it will cause engineering problems.
For EmDrive, I feel it is something to investigate, with some serious possibility it works at least a little.
Like on LENR , all the critics I've seen are from "armchairs". All concrete critics have been addressed, but critics often are not seriously made. We need good experimental skeptics, not theory fanclub.
I don't see any impossibility for LENR in microgravity, even if it will cause engineering problems.
For EmDrive, I feel it is something to investigate, with some serious possibility it works at least a little.
Like on LENR , all the critics I've seen are from "armchairs". All concrete critics have been addressed, but critics often are not seriously made. We need good experimental skeptics, not theory fanclub.
Yep, my thoughts exactly. With EmDrive however the critiques made are very important. The EM Drive currently has many theoretical and experimental errors. One thing I find interesting is that just by running some liquid nitrogen over the cavity you gain 1000x the thrust, or some other very large number. So why has no one tried this? Working with higher thrust levels would aid in disproving it or proving it.
Even if the EMDrive reaches a specific power of 0.2N/kW, it will become the choice of in space propulsion. Using a nuclear reactor you could pump 10kWh into the system and get 2N of thrust continuously from no propellant. Might not seem like much but you can thrust practically indefinitely: even after only twelve days of thrusting (not a lot when you can thrust for 4-5 years) you would have accumulated 2,073kNs. After a solid month of thrusting you could achieve 5,184kNs of total impulse. We're talking the sort of power levels that'll get you to mars in 90 days.
If it works half as well as planned, and achieve a specific power of 10kN/kW then you could essentially go to space in a Cessna sized spaceplane.
AlainCo wrote: I don't see any impossibility for LENR in microgravity, even if it will cause engineering problems.
Correct, the inertial effects of gravity are not needed for the NiO hydrogen fusion reaction. Will work in space and pre cooling would increase thrust although the hot hydrogen from the reactor would probably be used to drive a turbine instead of used as a propellant. Argon/CO2 after heat exchange would be more efficient as a propellant.
Also someone else commented "We're talking the sort of power levels that'll get you to mars in 90 days."
If the tripsters plan on returning to earth they should consider returning as fetuses or babies. Call up "Die Glocke" for reported effects on personnel moving at high velocity. Lucky for us those experiments were terminated during WWII. Makes good material for science fiction movies though.
Actually "the bell" had nothing to do with time travel, it was used for production of fissionable material for bombs. The mercury whirling at high velocity may have caused interesting relativistic effects as reported by people working on the breeder.
High velocity in the realm of strange physics keep spectroscopic observations interesting. The malleable properties of gold make extrusion into ultra thin wire easy. Submicron diameter wire when shorted across a super capacitor will explode and the light analyzed by emission spectroscopy reveals information about the photon emission from atoms moving toward the spectrometer compared to atoms moving away. Doppler effect on the waveform is evident when enough power is used. The advancing atoms move into the forbidden speed limit. To uphold the law time shifts. Shades of DeBroglie and Heisenberg, etc.
Sorry for the departure from the subject of LENR but had to answer the "mars in 90 days" comment. This would also require a time shift.
backyardfusion: This is a very sad development 
But maybe you can setup it with your grandfather who already helped you?
We won't delete this thread, because it contains interesting discussions 
If you want we can close it, so that no one can write anymore until you want that we open it again. Otherwise we just leave it as is
backyardfusion: This is a very sad development
But maybe you can setup it with your grandfather who already helped you?
We won't delete this thread, because it contains interesting discussions
If you want we can close it, so that no one can write anymore until you want that we open it again. Otherwise we just leave it as is
That was my first thought... Unfortunately, my options are limited by what my parents will allow, and they refuse to let me do it with the supervision of a science teacher in a school lab.
I might run down to the lab technician tomorrow and have a go at winning him over, but the chances of that working are slim.
Hi backyardfusion: It is a sad development. I have been following your thread a while and I also agree it contains some interesting stuff, I hope you can keep the thread active. Also who knows what will come up in the future in I hope you can still be a part of LENR you seem to have some remarkable ideas and very good level thinking.
I was just wondering, would anyone be able to tell me if based of any of the current theories 'Hot' LENR reactors would work in micro-gravity? Bit of an odd question I know. Also, just demographically, how many of you believe the EM drive holds some promise?
Very good question. I was also wondering if it could with stand the vibrations and acoustic environment of a launch (or any other transport for that matter)… if not i wonder if it can be built from safe raw materials and components in a zero g environment. I hope it can work in space it potentially could be very useful.
Hi backyardfusion: It is a sad development. I have been following your thread a while and I also agree it contains some interesting stuff, I hope you can keep the thread active. Also who knows what will come up in the future in I hope you can still be a part of LENR you seem to have some remarkable ideas and very good level thinking.
Yeah, not the best news that's for sure. I'll keep the thread open, for the information and in the hope that I might be able to return to the scene experimentally in the future....
Thanks for the compliments, I'll certainly be sticking around. LENR holds much promise in my eyes, and I think I'll drive into the theoretical frameworks done so far in absence of experimental work.
A rather silly idea (I think) that I had earlier is that, if we can verify that excess heat is being produced in these hot reactors (and in the gas-electric ones), what would be the best way to then verify that a nuclear reaction was taking place, specifically fusion? I heard somewhere that free electrons lower the Coulomb barrier, so if the reactor works off fusion, and is somehow slipping past the Coulomb barrier, then would ejecting electrons into the NAE even effect the excess heat production? I'm out of my depth with that, but I'm presuming that if a constant stream of free electrons was injected into the NAE and energy production went up, then we could verify that it is a fusion reaction? And if it doesn't increase production, we can't rule out fusion but we can say that either it is fusion and it's avoiding the Coulomb barrier, or it's some other nuclear reaction.
As I said, probably a silly idea since I'm out of my depth in this area, but just putting it out there to see. What would you guys say would be a good way to test whether or not the reaction is nuclear, in the absence of radiation?
Very good question. I was also wondering if it could with stand the vibrations and acoustic environment of a launch (or any other transport for that matter)… if not i wonder if it can be built from safe raw materials and components in a zero g environment. I hope it can work in space it potentially could be very useful.
Yep, that's what I was thinking. So far the NAE has turned out to be pretty damn sensitive from what I've read. Then again, if you're considering putting one of these reactors on a spacecraft I guess we can assume that we've pretty much nailed the theoretical stuff behind it, and have achieved near-optimal reactor design. Hopefully out of that would arise a way to make the NAE more bulletproof.
I might run down to the lab technician tomorrow and have a go at winning him over, but the chances of that working are slim.
If no one at the high school can help, perhaps you live near a university where there might be a sympathetic engineering professor?
If no one at the high school can help, perhaps you live near a university where there might be a sympathetic engineering professor?
Ah, that's a good idea. Sydney University isn't too far away from where I live, I suppose I could trying and talk to an engineering professor. It's just, at least from my experience, adults find it hard to take kids seriously. I really want to get this experiment done though, so if talking to the lab technician today doesn't help, I'll start looking into that.
Well backyardfusionist, I had the same experience this year, also with 4 undergrads technical physics. After long discussions they were not allowed to do these tests with fuel, so it was near to useless. It brought the students in stress to make something for their practical period. It ended also quite sad.
The insurance companies control if these experiments would be allowed in schools. Check their policies and you'll find that possibility is zero.
It's back to grandma's kitchen backed by her fire insurance protection. Poor grandma, from my melt down experience don't use her kitchen.
Set the experiment up in the middle of a desert somewhere so that the explosion won't start a fire.
