Posts by scuromio

I'm not saying that sulphur is not in plants. It is in one or more of the amino acids necessary for life. It is the quantity of sulphur that is the issue. Some publications say that high sulphur content coal is because the coal formation was buried beneath the sea where sulphates precipitated. Nonetheless, high sulphur coals also have an abnormal amount of less common elements. Low sulphur coals do not have nearly as much of the minor elements. I find it strange. Perhaps a coal scientist not aware of the possibility of LENR would find these comments strange.

It is an open issue in my mind. Of course, not all issues or observations in Nature have anything to do with LENR. As for Grimers speculations about clay, it seems worth thinking about. The inter-platelet environment might well be a nuclear active environment. Proof is needed and only experiment can determine the issue.

A newer analysis of the experiment by some independents, also published in arxiv, indicates that it is boson and charge neutral. It would therefore obey Bose-Einstein statistics and you know what that means. But if its lifetime is brief, no statistical condensation would be possible. If it is relevant to LENR, then it would be the charge neutrality that would be important. The new particle decays into an electron-positron pair. That could explain the bremstralung radiation observed by some and presumed to be present in all LENR experiments observe.

Another mystery is "what is all that sulfur doing in coal ? " The biological sulfur containing components of plant life don't seem to add up. And what about all the U ?

As for LENR in clay. I think everything is up for grabs. LENR, beyond any reasonable doubt, is real.

An extract from the original arxiv docment: "a neutral isoscalar particle with a mass of 16.70±0.35 (stat)±0.5 (sys) MeV/c2 and Jπ=1+ was created"

Thanks randombit0.

This looks like a solid experiment. Like anything this disruptive to standard theory, it will need to be verified by independent experiments now in progress.

In my opinion, this could be highly relevant to LENR.

http://www.nature.com/news/has…th-force-of-nature-1.1995

I invite all physicists on the forum to take a look at it.

Agreed that take off conditions will be the limiting factor. A way to cool the condenser whether in the wings or nacelle is to have ground based fans that cool them. After the engines have reved up, withdraw the ground based fans. Presumably the fans would be behind the wings with rectangular ducts temporarily covering the wings on top/bottom and rear sides. It might also be possible to have a ground based "launcher" that cuts into the plane cooling circuit and goes partway down the runway with it for a while, then disconnects before lift-off. Then there is the JATO possibility as well.

I think it was the cryogenic deuterium that caused the unexpected power of the blast.

An inexpensive shaft bearing for smooth shafts is simply cut up a sheet of felt (available at Hobby stores) , oil the felt, wrap it around the shaft and mount it in a clamp to hold the felt and shaft combination. Alternatively make the clamp in two pieces and use oiled felt on the top and bottom. This works very well.

A similar trick can be used as a very light duty overload clutch. An oiled felt disk is placed between two disks, each disk on a different shaft. When overload occurs, the disks and felt will slip. The ancient teletype machines used exactly this trick , except that I seem to recall that it was a series of disks and felt disks plus a spring to keep them in contact. A motor continually rotated. When a "start bit" of the Baudot code came in, an electromagnetic would release the driven shaft. As the driven shaft rotated during the course of the code word, further bits would then be set by an electromagnetic as the shaft rotated. At the end, a "stop space" would de-energize the electromagnetic and the catch on the driven shaft would be caught and the felt slip clutch would start to slip until another code word arrived. In these modern times we just use a UART chip or the same built into the entire computer chip.

When a person turns 70 as I recently did, the mind turns to passing on knowledge for the benefit of others. Hence this thread. So, here are a few trivial ones, but handy.

Chains are useful for a lot of things because they are infinitely flexible. Using small chain is good for attaching tools such as wrenches and screw drivers to an instrument or machine that needs that specific tool. Number 5 clock chain has links only about 11.5 mm by 6 mm. The links are hard steel that can be opened then attached to another link if needed.

When you need a hole through sheet metal, the drill bit often catches and the entire piece of sheet whirls around and is dangerous. Either be sure to clamp the sheet (with a space beneath to let the tip of the drill bit through, or, buy a hole punch. Harbor Freight sells sheet metal hole punches very inexpensively. Several punch sizes are included. Very handy.

As mentioned in the previous post, small gauge stranded wire, such as picture hanging wire is useful for remote control. For critical purposes, use clamps instead of just twisting the wire. You can buy pulleys and bearings at VXB bearings and many other places. While perusing a bearings site, be sure to look at Heim joints. They are like the classic ball joint on the steering apparatus of your car. They are available in tiny sizes suitable for instruments. Their utility is that if you think you can just mount a lever or push rod by a hole through it, it will snag and not be accurate. Heim joints solve that problem because they have two degrees of freedom. Heim joints are sold with both a left-hand thread varieties and right-threaded varieties. Put a right hand at one end of a push or pull rod and a left hand at the other end. Threaded rod between the two means that you can turn the rod thread to make an adjustable length connection between the two joints. You need to keep on hand a right hand and left hand tap to thread the rod. Aircraft controls invariably use Heim joints. Pilots want SMOOTH action and control. Researchers want the same on a mechanical connection. Basically Heim connections allow you to make a connection between two other rods that are not perfectly aligned. They never are perfectly aligned. The two degrees of freedom on the heim at each end allow the 3-D misalignments to be accommodated.

As with the misalignment to be accommodated between linear push/pull rods, there is also a need to accommodate the unavoidable misalignment between two rotating shafts. Just connect the two shafts with a third shaft with a universal joint (also called Cardan joint) on each end. It is necessary that the universal joints be phased so that the U on each end of the ending third rod is in the same plane as on the other end. Many a car mechanic knows this. Those who don't get an immediate complaint from a customer about a thumpiness to the ride.

An alternate to universal joints are easy to build rag joints. Cars use them for the steering connection. You can make your own by gluing together enough layers of cloth to make a connection disc, then make four holes around the edge of the disc. Then connect opposite holes to the same bar (or U) that goes to a rotating shaft. Do the same with the other pair of holes that go to the other rotating shaft. I sometimes use brass foil cut into a cross shape. Rag joints don't transmit a much power, nor are they good when there is huge misalignment. They are for small misalignments.

Still another way to connect two rotating shafts is to use a coil spring that fits over both shafts. Leave some distance between the shafts so there will be free coils. This is only for low power connections. Most lab instruments are low power. A spring such as a screen door closing spring is suitable.

All of these little tricks for connections for rotating shafts are needed for connecting an electric motor to your scientific instrument.

Alan, here is another weird one for you: my father-in-law was an icthyologist turned oceanographer. One of his first assignments just after graduating college was to be at the Bikini Island test (or another similar one, maybe Bravo). The observation ship he was on was positioned a distance deemed safe for the expected blast. The yield of the blast turned out to much much higher than expected. My FIL got a heavy dose of radiation. He is now 87 and pretty healthy.

Later, the same FIL was on an oceanographic vessel that just happened to be in the area of the Thresher disaster. A nuclear physicist happened to be aboard. The guy quickly drew a geiger counter circuit on a cereal box, rolled it up inside a pipe and sent the detector down to bottom of the sea looking for nuclear radioactivity. Other ships soon arrived. In anycase, the Thresher was eventually located.

Although not directly relevant to LENR , here is a HENR experiment that was deadly because not the slightest safety precautions were taken. It would not have been difficult to have remote controlled this deadly experiment with light duty stranded wire cables, pulleys, levers, perhaps an aluminum framework for the mechanics, and, of course, plenty of shielding at a distance for the experimenter.

Let the wise learn from this tragic account:

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/…-slotin?intcid=mod-latest

Alan, look up pulse forming networks (PFN). They need to be designed for the low impedance of an intense arc discharge. That impedance is pretty hard to define since it varies during the pulse. I have heard of discharges all the way from 300 ohms on down to a tenth that value. Magnetrons are much higher impedance I believe.

Alan, I understand about the hydrogen cylinder difficulties. Fortunately I have a century old pair of tiny bunkers dug into a hill where they will bother no one, and, anyway the authorities don't care in our jurisdiction, but they do get nervous at the cylinder rental place. I turned in my hyd. cyl. last fall, and need to get another one.

Excellent. The annealing trick is good to know !

The picture illustrating the set up appeared to be using a compression fitting, not a glass to metal seals. Yes, glass to metal seals are done all the time. I am now getting ready to do a tungsten to borosilicate seal. The trick to it is to use fine wire and a very dilute borax solution to create a very thin layer of boron rich material at the area of the seal. Just mash the molten glass onto the wire.

Some people have succeeded in doing copper to glass seals by feathering out the copper to be very thin. There are videos on YouTube on doing that kind of seal. I forget the details of the trick to it. It has something to do with coating the copper. Copper is not an especially good thermal expansion match. Tungsten is better, Kovar, best of all.

The an easy thing to do is buy Kovar wire. Ebay even has kovar seals with a bit of glass already on it. Just heat and seal the glass to the glass destination. The easiest way of all is find a sacrificial electronic vacuum tube and break it up and use that seal. Most vacuum tubes use Kovar I believe.

@ Alan Smith,

Leaks around the metal to glass joints are very possible. That could create the possibility of an air-hydrogen chemical explosion. The explosion limits for air-hydrogen are very wide on both the low and high side of concentrations. Doing the experiment outside would be a safer way to do it.

Upon further thought, perhaps this is an explanation for the Thermocore incident.

LENR experiments have consistently shown that it is movement of hydrogen that seems to be associated with heat production. If so, perhaps the nickel that Thermocore used, already had a hydrogen content and the long term vacuum treatment was removing the hypothetical hydrogen. There is the hydrogen flux for you.

On another matter, all the sceptics here on this forum and indeed everywhere, fail to explain all the meltdown incidents. That alone is sufficient to demonstrate the falsity of their scepticism.

On the mark Longview. In view of the Thermocore incident, I think the only safe way to proceed for a large mass experiment is a government sponsored experiment on the nuclear testing areas out West. Appropriate radiation detectors would quickly determine what is going on. All remote control, of course.

I deliberately use only very small masses of nickel. That is very interesting that me356 is using a large mass. That suggests that a minimum mass perhaps is required to go "critical" , just as in a normal reactor. Alternatively, maybe the heat just couldn't escape and it was not a nuclear critical reaction.

Here is a little mystery for everyone: long ago, when I worked as a civilian scientist for the US Navy, one of my bosses, a PhD, said that it was his belief that hydrogen cylinders were filled with nickel to absorb more gas. These were ordinary steel high pressure gas cylinders. Maybe he was misinformed. Or, maybe the nickel was more coarse. I don't know.

Now that John Strong has passed away, I am reminded of his wonderful "Procedures in Experimental Physics" . Reprints of this old but classic book for physicists is available. The electronics mentioned in it are from the vacuum tube era, but all the rest of the stuff is as useful today as a century ago. I have spent many an hour purusing his many hints and tips. All professionals and amateurs should have a copy.

http://www.amazon.com/Procedures-Experimental-Physics-John-Strong/dp/0917914562?ie=UTF8&keywords=book procedures in experimental physics&qid=1463538448&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

One of his more interesting tips is the use of clay and borax mixture that is easily heated to make a tight seal. That is something that LENR enthusiasts should welcome. Any borax mixture will glassify and melt at a relatively low temperature. About 10 to 15 percent borax is about right. The melting temperature can be considerably raised by mixing in calcium oxide and sodium carbonate.

I suggest mixing 2 parts borax with 1 part lime and maybe a bit of sodium bicarbonate. Calcine the each component separately at high temperature to drive off the extra CO2, then mix it with the borax and clay. I haven't tried it the mixture, but, it should work well since it is the basic formula for glass. To form the mixed clay and borax mixture into a shape you want, just add water, shape it, then let it dry before heating. Remember that glass melts and runs. Graphite molds might be helpful.

The clay you can dig. Let it dry then powder it before mixing with the aforementioned witches brew. As you powder it, shake it and the larger particles will rise and and be removed for crushing and then added back in.

Turning to a totally different matter, it is often useful to have tiny vials around your laboratory for specimens or for small storage of laboratory chemicals. Always attach labels of the contents with a date. Here is one of many sources:

For small quantities try searching around Amazon. Various sizes are available. Try http://www.amazon.com/Glass-Vials-Dram-Pack-12/dp/B008IRT7SI/ref=lp_318111011_1_12?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1463539131&sr=1-12

I usually buy them a gross (144) at a time because they are much cheaper that way. Try http://www.premiumvials.com/4-…IypqvzM4swCFVhZhgodlxoC4Q

Anyone doing extensive experimentation needs to store and preserve what they did. Don't forget to buy labels.