Seeking design suggestions for SAFIRE analog experiment

  • Hello,


    I'm working on a SAFIRE analog experiment. Components:

    - Large glass bell jar with steel baseplate and gasket. Evacuated with backing pump, and turbomolecular pump as needed.

    - There will be a gas tube to feed hydrogen to a hollow anode. Pressure: on the order of 1 atm. The simplest anode will be the gas tube capped by a nickel or nickel alloy flat plate. I will also use hollow sphere anodes.

    - The electrode will be surrounded by a cathode.

    - Voltage difference: up to 1000 V and 200 mA, or 600V and 4A.
    - I hope to heat the anode to ~1000C or higher using trace plasma in the vacuum chamber to exponentially increase hydrogen diffusion through the anode shell. Is this likely to work?


    Questions:

    1) What metals should be used for different anodes? Pure nickel for sure, but I also want a nickel alloy. IIRC SAFIRE said to use at least 10% nickel content.

    2) I want a "plug and play" type setup for plugging in different anodes. Each hollow anode will be welded to a metal gas tube. How would you suggest I connect this gas tube to the base plate and vacuum/H2 feed system? This is basically a vacuum/gas feed plumbing and connector question and it's the biggest question I have right now.


    If I can get this system working and doing something interesting I will graduate to an all-metal chamber with additional instrumentation such as a langmuir probe.

    Background info:

    https://safireproject.com/ewEx…SAFIRE-Project-Report.pdf

    • Official Post

    Hi Arun.


    It's not too difficult to make the 'plug and play' electrode system. I have a version of it in my own plasma rig which I suspect is similar to yours. The electrodes here are on threaded rods -if they were bored internally they would also act as a gas feed - the white things on the silver colour anode (stainless steel 6% Ni 2%Cr) are merely alumina insulation beads as used in pottery kilns. This rig is due an upgrade soon...new Pirani Gauge, new Vacuum pump and valves. The driver for this btw is a large 15kV Neon transformer fed via the red Auto transformer you can see in the picture. The Autotransformer gives up to 300V output btw, so I could in theory overdrive the Neon transformer to 20kV (unlikely) There's also a high voltage diode network for DC as required. 12kV high power Microwave diodes are very cheap on Ebay.





  • So, your metal electrodes are attached to metal threaded rods, and those are threaded directly into female threaded holes in the acrylic walls? It sounds like it would be leaky. Do you use teflon tape with it? Any special choice of threads per inch (or mm...) for this application?


    • Official Post

    Hi again. There are no threads on the entry points where solid or tube connections pass through the 25mm thick polycarbonate (Lexan) base-plate, The polycarbonate is bored to make the vacuum-greased feed throughs a 'tap-in' fit then the externals are de-greased with isopropanol and sealed both sides with clear epoxy. The plain 'empty' hole in this photo is for one of the locating bolts outside the vacuum zone and the white ring is the main seal to the bell-jar which is 1mm thick approx silicone rubber. This took a long while to degas but got there in the end.. I used a polymer base-plate rather than a metal one to reduce complications with electrical insulation of feed-throughs - which in my experience can be a potent source of leaks.


  • So your method is somewhat plug and play because you only have to chip away/drill out the epoxy that is on the surface if you want to put a different electrode there.


    I think a more plug-and-play method might be an "airlock" type connection. For example, a KF-16 "full nipple" could be welded to a steel baseplate or epoxied to an acrylic wall. Then, the gas tube could be welded or vacuum-epoxied to a half nipple. This half nipple can then be attached to the KF-16 full nipple airlock in true plug and play style with a KF clamp that is inside the vacuum chamber. On the non-vacuum side of the baseplate, a gas tube could be welded/epoxied to a KF-16 half nipple which can be connected to the airlock.


    I hope there is a simpler way.


    The gas fed anode being positive, a separate insulated high voltage feedthrough for the cathode is necessary. I have a commercial feedthrough for this, probably will vac epoxy it to the baseplate.


    Hi again. There are no threads on the entry points where solid or tube connections pass through the 25mm thick polycarbonate (Lexan) base-plate, The polycarbonate is bored to make the vacuum-greased feed throughs a 'tap-in' fit then the externals are de-greased with isopropanol and sealed both sides with clear epoxy. The plain 'empty' hole in this photo is for one of the locating bolts outside the vacuum zone and the white ring is the main seal to the bell-jar which is 1mm thick approx silicone rubber. This took a long while to degas but got there in the end.. I used a polymer base-plate rather than a metal one to reduce complications with electrical insulation of feed-throughs - which in my experience can be a potent source of leaks.


    • Official Post

    So your method is somewhat plug and play because you only have to chip away/drill out the epoxy that is on the surface if you want to put a different electrode there


    Npt quite. No need to disturb the feed-throughs to change electrodes. That is why they are fitted onto the end of the feed-throughs via a threaded rod. Everything is interchangeable- electrode material spacing type etc. And gas feeds are also easy to arrange- there is a capillary gas-feed through the baseplate that could provide an gas supply for the electrodes. You can see the capillary in the center of this shot.


  • So actually there are all kinds of commerical gas feedthroughs that exist and my real problem is lack of knowledge and comfort with VCO, VCR, swagelok, etc. tube connections. I probably want to weld a tube to my anode that can be VCR-connected (or similar) to a gas feedthrough that has a VCR-ended tube on the vacuum side.

    • Official Post

    So actually there are all kinds of commerical gas feedthroughs that exist and my real problem is lack of knowledge and comfort with VCO, VCR, swagelok, etc. tube connections


    There are indeed many types - best to standardise on one- I try to always use 1/4 in VCR when I have to go there. My main objection to using commercial feed-throughs is the price.

    • Official Post

    There are indeed many types - best to standardise on one- I try to always use 1/4 in VCR when I have to go there. My main objection to using commercial feed-throughs is the price.

    I wholeheartedly agree, one can always find exactly what one needs, but the budget can go high, and in a experimental reactor that might have to be scrapped entirely to start over, anything you purchase needs to be either very re usable or ultra cheap, within the technical constraints.


    Ours is a field of research where we have got used to try to do all we can with very scarce resources, and Alan Smith has a lot of good ideas to get more bang from each buck spent.

  • Henk Jurrien's "simple" VEGA experiments are based on the SAFIRE system. The various systems produce prolific transmutation and has come to the attention of MFMP who has analyzed scores of these various experiments that have advanced the study of the EVO and its associated transmutation effects to a great extent.


    Jurrien has conducted a series of experiments inspired by "Sacred Geometry".

    In one experiment, he investigates whether particles on the cathode and anode of his VEGA ALUM experiment are magnetic.


    Here are a few of Jurrien's many VEGA experiments:



    VEGA Valley - 3D test section 001 - HENK/MFMP - YouTube
    Jun 9, 2021

    YouTube


    VEGA - ALUM - Magnetic? - YouTube
    Nov 11, 2022

    YouTube


    VEGA - Exploding the Valley - YouTube
    Jul 31, 2022

    YouTube


    VEGA - Henk Jurrien's 'Sacred Geometry' inspired experiments
    May 12, 2023

    YouTube


  • axil


    • You should study this very interesting and very readable paper . A couple of our members are part of the team who wrote this, and you might be forgiven for thinking that it is reminiscent of the work of Ken Shoulders on EVO's. There are clues here as to the mechanism that George Egely's device and others exploit


      ShieldSquare Captcha


      Abstract

      The aim of this research was the study of the transition between high and low electrical resistivity states of two overlapped graphene layers when subjected to short electromagnetic pulses (soliton waves). These transitions have already been previously observed by the authors in experiments carried out with different conductors, separated by a tiny insulating layer. The choice of a highly ordered material, such as graphene, was justified by the attempt to achieve greater stability and reproducibility of these transitions. What has been observed is an instantaneous reversible transition of the graphene overlapped layers to/from a state of insulator with resistance in the order of Mohms from/to a state of resistance of few ohms or, in some cases, of zero ohms. The transition from a high resistance state to a lower one requires EM pulses of different polarity than the transition from a low resistivity state to a higher one. Some intermediate relatively stable states have also been observed.

  • Chirality affects current flow in graphene transistors – Physics World
    Novel findings could lead to new field of "chiraltronics"
    physicsworld.com


    Electrons will segregate themselves in graphene by handedness. Once the chiral configuration of the electron population is establish in a layer of graphene, that chiral condition will be maintained with little leakage of the other chiral state of the electrons.


    Electron chirality is central to the generation of superconductivity in magic angle moiré based graphene systems.


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    There is a great deal of theory that has been developed in chiral superconductivity in magic angle moiré based graphene systems that the referenced paper is either not familiar with or has been ignored.


    See as an example of chiral superconductivity:


    Topological chiral superconductivity with spontaneous vortices and supercurrent in twisted bilayer graphene
    We study $d$-wave superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene and reveal phenomena that arise due to the moir\'e superlattice. In the $d$-wave pairing, the…
    journals.aps.org


    Topological chiral superconductivity with spontaneous vortices and supercurrent in twisted bilayer graphene

  • And? How is that relevant?

    In a few words, the theory is wrong.


    Re: A preliminary conjecture that hypothesizes the formation of coherent electron structures between the graphene layers has been presented.


    The conjecture that has been presented is not conformant with the present state of the art research and theory on moiré topological chiral superconductivity. There is no mention of electron chirality which is the baseline cause of the superconductive mechanism. The mechanisms that were offered are irrelevant.


    Furthermore, the statement:


    Quote

    It is reasonable to hypothesize that this force balance explains not only the lack of repulsion in the electron coherent phase seen by Prins but also the dense exotic charge clusters seen by Kenneth Shoulders.


    Is invalid IMHO.


    I also don't think that Zitterbewegung is a valid process based on my understanding of QFT and quantum mechanics as follows:


    The original perspective on zitterbewegung interprets the x in the Dirac equation as the position observable of a particle. But that modern perspective is that that interpretation is a mistake. Zitterbewegung is just one of the consequences of that mistake.


    The modern perspective is that Quantum Field theory (QFT) is the proper foundation for relativistic quantum physics. In QFT, the variable "x" in the Dirac equations isn't an observable at all. It's a parameter, basically a continuous "index" that is used together with the spinor index "k" to parameterize the field operators ψk(t,x). Observables are constructed from the field operators, and they are operators that act on a Hilbert space.


    Because of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, the location of the electron cannot be precisely known. In QFT the spacetime location of the electron is properly conceptualized as a indistinct cloud where its position can only be approximated. As such ZBW cannot be determined. The x in the math is therefore undetermined.


    Zitterbewegung is an artifact of mistaking the parameter x as a position observable.


    Relativistic QFT doesn't have a strict position observable.

    In relativistic QFT because of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, particle-detection observables can't be both perfectly noise-free and perfectly sharply localized in a finite region of spacetime. We can know one or the other, but we can't have both, and nothing about this statement contradicts anything we know from real experiments.


    In the case of ZBW, theory is mislead by the math and is not real. In addition, ZBW would have been replaced as a physical mechanism by the Higgs mechanism which is a chiral theory, that is, ZBW and the Higgs mechanism are incomparable.


  • Zitterbewegung in Quantum Mechanics – a research program


    "Spacetime Algebra (STA) provides unified, matrix-free spinor methods for rotational dynamics

    in classical theory as well as quantum mechanics. That makes it an ideal tool for studying particle

    models of zitterbewegung and using them to study zitterbewegung in the Dirac theory. This paper

    develops a self-contained dynamical model of the electron as a lightlike particle with helical zitter-

    bewegung and electromagnetic interactions. It attributes to the electron an electric dipole moment

    oscillating with ultrahigh frequency, and the possibility of observing this directly as a resonance in

    electron channeling is analyzed in detail. A modification of the Dirac equation is suggested to incor-

    porate the oscillating dipole moment. That enables extension of the Dirac equation to incorporate

    electroweak interactions in a new way."

  • I like Roger Penrose chiral based concept for Zitterbewegung.


    Zitterbewegung is a local circulatory motion of an electron that is thought to be the basis of the electron's spin and magnetic moment. Roger Penrose has considered the electron's chirality as "zitterbewegung".


    In quantum electrodynamics (QED), zitterbewegung is understood as the result of the electron interacting with spontaneously forming and annihilating electron-positron pairs. In a reformulation of the Dirac theory, zitterbewegung does not need to be attributed to interference between positive and negative energy states.


    Penrose has also explained the well-known electron "zitterbewegung" with his zigzag model of Higgs-electron interaction.


    Quote

    Roger Penrose in Chapter 25 of his book The Road to Reality describes a "zigzag" model of the electron that consists of a pair of massless components one with a left-handed spin (the zig) and the other with a right-handed spin (the zag). He says that the Dirac equation can be written as a pair of equations which describe each component being continually transformed into the other. The strength of the coupling between these equations depends on the electron mass. Thus the electron is continually jittering between a massless zig and a zag particle. The energy in this vibrating motion provides the electron with its rest mass. (This is Penrose's explanation of the well-known electron "zitterbewegung") Penrose then goes on to say that one can think of the Higgs field as taking over the role of the electron mass. One imagines that it is the continual interaction with the Higgs field that causes the electron zig to be converted to the electron zag and vice-versa. Again it is the energy in this vibrating motion that gives rise to the electron's rest mass. I think this picture is better than the particle-in-molasses picture that one often hears. In my view the Higgs interaction explains the origin of the rest mass/energy of a particle (and therefore its gravitational mass) but not its inertia defined as its resistance to being accelerated. I think inertia might have a "Machian" gravitational cause as outlined in Dennis Sciama's "On the origin of inertia" Reference: https://www.physicsforums.com/…ctron-interaction.622441/


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    Chapter 25. Standard Model: zitterbewegung, weak force, CPT theorem


    Penross' entire book is found here


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  • " In a reformulation of the Dirac theory, zitterbewegung does not need to be attributed to interference between positive and negative energy states."


    Interpretations of Zitterbewegung such as those of Hestenes are quite clear and realistic


    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225849683_Quantum_mechanics_from_self-interaction


    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326835988_Helical_Solenoid_Model_of_the_Electron


    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330619569_Electron_Structure_Ultra-Dense_Hydrogen_and_Low_Energy_Nuclear_Reactions

    Edited once, last by gio06 ().

  • My main objection to using commercial feed-throughs is the price.

    ....I am currently checking LF for experiences with vacuum fittings...I found these feed thru's.


    Stainless steel compression-type fitting | Therma Thermocouples & temperature sensors
    Learn more about Stainless steel compression-type fitting from Therma Thermofühler GmbH. ✅ Experience since 1991 ✅ Personal advice ✅ Online Shop
    www.thermagmbh.de


    I plan to buy the teflon and stainless steel type as a thermocouple feedthru. Could (teflon) also be used as a power feed thru.

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