What is being described in the IE article is simple gas loading of Ti. The temperature spike is caused by the heat of formation of titanium hydride being released as the hydrogen is absorbed. This is standard, everyday hydride chemistry. For ex., see J. E. Klein, Fusion Sci. & Tech. 41 (2002) 764, where a Ti-containing vessel is loaded and unloaded multiple times. In that series of experiments a temperature rise of 600+ degrees was observed in one part of the vessel, while lesser rises were noted elsewhere. The temperature you measure depends on where you place your thermocouple, and 600+ degree changes are typical for the most active spots. No excess energy needed.
Tcvetkov wrote
"
Right now with my protocol I can give you exact figures. Here are the
results of my measurements. This protocol reflects the latest
experimental results. The figures reflected are the most recent. The
excess heat, the calculated excess heat, is deuterated titanium at 573
degrees, the sum of COP is 1.789 Joules, or 1 degree per gram…131 Kj…For
the time of 190 seconds this amounts to 695 Watts. The extended power
for the heating of the sample is calculated at 153 W. That means that
the excess power coefficient is 224. This is the data coming from one of
the experiments. [end Tcvetkov quote]
The interesting point Kirkshanahan asserts is that this is all simply 'heat of solution' for D in Ti. And that the
apparent magnitude of the heat produced is also a function of "where you place your thermocouple". It seems that an
effective re-examination of the issue, if there is to be one, would require allowing thermal equilibration
after the dissolution with deuterium, that is, to measure total delta T over total mass. Of course that loses
all the localization information while also reducing the magnitude of any possible temperature rise (or fall).
An idealized test would involve calorimetry, in which a suitable insulated container surrounds the reacting Ti. There
is a risk that textbook, or systematic evaluations of enthalpy (delta H) and entropy (delta S) and hence overall
delta G (Gibbs free energy) for such dissolutions may have themselves been compromised to an unknown extent by
some LENR processes (if they happened to be present). It is another of those situations where a complete examination
would also include isotopic analysis and particularly very high resolution Residual Gas Analysis.
And of course there are several reports that post dissolution treatment of resulting deuterides can initiate LENR. Those
treatments can involve temperature, pressure and probably even magnetic, electromagnetic, electrostatic, or phonon
stimulation or any combination of some or all of those.
So a complete analysis there would be a long and detailed process involving deuterium loading, treating with various stimuli and
looking for both thermal and isotopic results.
In my view, the whole thing is not so easily dismissed without careful consideration of possibilities beyond the
standard dogmas of thermodynamics. We may often be looking for small effects [Rpssi / Parkhomov replications]
or very large effects [Lipinski UGC, Q over 7400]. The former case admittedly making the task more difficult
than is usual in ordinary chemical thermodynamics. The reward in the end, even with small effects,
is that such evidence could provide a basis for understanding the mechanisms and hence the possibility, at least, of
making reactors with far more substantial output.
