Based on the 5 cm diameter and your image of the cell, I estimate the electrolyte volume to be around 23 ml. Did you put the piece of Li in the cell after filling it like this? Did you weigh the Lithium?
These details are potentially important, because the ionic concentration of the electrolyte will affect the cell resistance and thus the current to voltage ratio and chemistry of the cell.
I posted on this:
50mA
80 ohms
4V
From Ohm's Law and J5 postings.
Ready to be set straight if I err.
I plan to make LiOH in cell and will add H2O while monitoring resistance to reach 80Ω.
The inner diameter is for sure around 4cm. Unfortunately I can't measure ID precisely. Only ratio between Li:H2O is important, if it is approximately same then there will be no problem. The photo is taken before Li is added. I tried many variations of ratio and I think that difference between 0.5x - 2x is acceptable.
UPDATE: After multiple measurements I am convinced that what I am getting are Alphas. But still I can't exclude if other kind of radiation is not present.
It is little bit strange at some occasions as it is seemingly measuring also other kind of particles than Alphas. From what I found it could be ejected protons. Something is giving me counts in vicinity of 2 meters from the cell.
When the cell is not running for few hours there is nothing. Zero background. When I power up the cell after few seconds the counts are arising. But I am talking just about additional 10-20 CPM. So really nothing. But background is 3 CPM.
Activated paper is giving me 30 - 60 CPM with this Alpha detector.
Am-241 source is giving me 100 000 CPM. That is BIG difference, yet activated paper makes clearly difference from background. So now I have two very different detectors that are picking up something. Threshold energy was configured right for the Am-241 so whatever it is it has same or higher energy.
@JohnyFive Thank you for the details. I now understand enough to get started. I'll watch the cell resistance and dilute if needed, as suggested by nickec.
I've also purchased a Ludlum 43-2 Alpha scintillation probe, and have enough NIM modules to run it. Is that the one you are using? What was its voltage setting when you calibrated?
Alphas from Am-241 are quite energetic, around 5.6 MeV.
AlanG
Although I’m intrigued by the possibility of a Li p process some how occurring in the paper.
I agree that it would likely require something pretty exotic to bring it there and stabilize it and enable later reactions.
I think the resulting alpha energies a few MeV are similar magnitude with those of AM-241 though.
But I should say that Da Phys mentioned to me on Ecat world that we should expect some alpha on the surface from UDD as well as the volatile compounds he mentioned. I’m not sure if UDH would be associated with alpha as well.
I think this is an important point. Is your test with alpha detection with Deuterium sourced materials or Hydrogen? If Deuterium could you check for alpha also with Hydrogen?
Regarding your measurements of radiation at 2m.
This could be interesting. Are you seeing a 1/r^2 drop of at 2m compared to 1m?
A. 1/r^2 might imply something that is radiating but not interacting much with air. Maybe muons? (Although half life would need to be considered) or something more stable such as beta?
B. More attenuation than this might indicate something interacting with the air such as alpha or protons? Of something that decays such as muons of mesons. Maybe we could distinguish which from the attenuation rate?
C. Less attenuation than 1/r^2 would be the most interesting. This might imply neutral particles decaying after a certain TOF in to charged particles. This could be pretty consistent with Holmlid work with neutral Kaons and Pions Being generated from UDH.
If you are seeing alpha as well as radiation from the pancake following a rule other than B above I really wouldn’t know What to make if that. If C it would imply something decaying to alpha at distances from the paper. That would be strange indeed.
magicsound Ludlum 43-65. Voltage is 700V. But I am slowly trying different voltages too and checking what is difference.
StephenC I am not sure yet because I am still new to the detector and I need to gain more experience with Alphas. But from what I observed it is definitively C.
It look like it does not matter where I am in this vicinity. There are no more counts if it is close to the cell. But from certain distance (around 2m) I am getting just background.
But it require really more time because I am unsure yet. With respect to the Pancake there are just few counts. So I have to be more careful and precise.
With Pancake it is very easy because there are many counts at any second.
H2O is used. I don't use D2O anymore as I feel safer.
I have to say this 2m effect does remind me of some of the observations made by Holmlid regarding Kaon decay from UDH.
Probably it is worth taking careful precautions close to a he cell until it is better understood. I appreciate that the radiation level is low though.
I wonder if it would be possible to determine if the effect is due to a “gas” decaying at a distance. Or particles.
I suppose you could get this from a TOF measurement.
Maybe a crude way to do this could be to Move the paper or device some where new more than 2m way and then see how long it takes to get counts at 2m.
A. If it is almos instantaneous particles could be implied.
B. If it is taking some seconds the may be a “gas” like substance that later decays is implicated
From the TOF and/or distance one may be able to estimate the half life of what ever effect is going on I guess.
@JohnyFive
Odd request: do you have or are you willing to purchase a mechanics' stethoscope (cost = 5-15 euro) to check out if your Ti flakes emit any noise after having been electrolytically loaded? Hard/tough materials that are subjected to internal stresses can become embrittlened and start "popping" as brittle cracks form. Yesterday I have been forwarded the following link on this regard: http://metassoc.com/hydrogen-e…els-achilles-heel-part-2/
Edmund Storms has often written that neutron emission from Ti-D experiments is due to "fracto-fusion" phenomena, where the electric field produced by brittle crack formation can accelerate deuterons and produce hot fusion reactions. He puts these on a different category than cold fusion. Of course, everybody has his own opinion on the subject.
This old LENR-Forum thread might be relevant. There are a couple comments and excerpts by Edmund Storms on Ti-D: MFMP: LENR LIVE proposal 1: The neutron sparkler
Thank you guys for suggestions!
I am still playing with Alpha detector and certainly there is something interesting.
But I am also curious about your results. When do you plan to start replication?
Hopefully this week end. My alpha detector and some other instruments are in transit soon to arrive according to the tracking data but i also intend to use a spark detector built for the purpose and a cloud chamber.
I would have thought in a city the size of Houston Ti sponge could be had with ease. My experience thus far is at odds with this notion.
So. Today I will start charging a cell with a titanium nitride coated needle cathode.
Having spent the last three days IRL pounding the pavement at local Universities, Jewelry Suppliers, Welding Wholesalers, and phoning and emailing sourcing candidates, Ti sponge remains out of reach.
I persist. Whatever it takes. Adulturated Ti foams find application in medicine. My old haunts at the Texas Medical Center beckon.
I remain committed to a close replication. Only lack proper cathode. Considered plastic tea infuser filled with ground Ti from spork. Have concerns regarding continuity/conduction and surface area.
Nickec,
Did you try ebay i found my TI sponge from a link posted here. And you can always try thin titanium vaping wire coil as someone suggested. Maybe try a vape shop, Amazon or eBay.
Just now invested in Ti vaping wire. Have Ni200 vaping wire in hand.
UPDATE: I was able to measure activated paper alone without affecting detector by any other particles from the cell.
By repeated measurements I can now conclude that what I am measuring are really Alpha particles and likely nothing else. I mean with Alpha detector. But in total there are at least 2 kinds of radiation.
I covered the paper and detector actually so that a potentially floating particles can't enter the probe. So it was measuring primarily just the paper.
When before this paper another sheet (unactivated) was inserted there is perfect background.
Then again when this newly inserted paper (shielding) is removed counts are back.
From my observation Alphas are generated with much longer decay (in range of hours) than what Pancake detector is measuring or can sense.
This mean that there are seemingly at least two different Half-Lifes.
The detector is not picking up that "high" counts at any other area. Again just with the activated paper.
In this measurement the cell was far and also not powered for several hours. So nothing else was ejected from the cell to make a proper conclusion.
Interestingly the Alphas can be measured rather from side of the paper which is in direct contact with water vapor/gases. On the contrary Pancake is picking up elevated counts from the opposite side of the paper or object that is being activated.
So upper side is giving maybe soft Betas while bottom side of the paper is giving Alphas.
@JohnyFive ,
Do you pickup anything if you place the pancake detector on the active cell without paper?
Or on your electrodes , the surface of the electrolyte?
Are all the substrate you used beside paper porous?
The energy of the third much-smaller product usually ranges between 10 and 20 MeV. In keeping with their origin, alpha particles produced by ternary fission typically have mean energies of about ~ 16 MeV (energies this great are never seen in alpha decay). Since these typically have significantly more energy than the ~ 5 MeV alpha particles from alpha decay, they are accordingly called "long range alphas" (referring to their longer range in air or other media).
The other two larger fragments carry away, in their kinetic energies, the remainder of the fission kinetic energy (typically totalling ~ 170 MeV in heavy element fission) that does not appear as the 10 to 20 MeV kinetic energy carried away by the third smaller product. Thus, the larger fragments in ternary fission are each less energetic, by a typical 5 to 10 MeV, than they are seen to be in binary fission.
When I was doing the last measurement it is only from a normal Alphas. These Alphas are measurable just from around 2 cm.
But radiation that I was measuring from 2 meters is something not understood yet. This is likely coming from the Cathode.
From radiation experts I found that some Protons can be measured with Alpha detectors. Maybe this is the case.
But as you know cosmic rays are producing Alphas too even that radiation source is so distant. So who knows.
This is matter for further investigation.
With Pancake detector I would say that rather no although it is often not pure background.
The paper or a porous foams must be exposed for at least minutes. Then it is very clearly measurable.
But with Alpha detector I am measuring elevated radiation when it is above the cell without any paper - when the cell is running.
So behavior is really different for both detectors.
[...] Perhaps, the "ultra-density" would also be a result of the immense "Nernst pressure".... Nernst pressure in electrolytic situations is said, or claimed, by some electrochemists to be many orders of magnitude greater than atmospheric (e.g. 10^47, p. 101 in Tadahiko Muzuno's "Nuclear Transmutation: The reality of cold fusion", very interesting book translated by our own Jed Rothwell)
Perhaps kind of off-topic here, but do you have more freely available information/sources about this? I've been trying to find more on the highlighted subject but for the most part I get search hits from LENR-Forum. I feel like I'm going in circles.
