Hello Michiel!

28 Apr 05 09:51, Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Herman Trivilino:


 >> PYROFUSION: A ROOM-TEMPERATURE, PALM-SIZED NUCLEAR FUSION
 >> DEVICE has been reported by a UCLA collaboration, potentially
 >> leading to new kinds of fusion devices and other novel
 >> applications such as microthrusters for MEMS spaceships.

 MvdV> Another cold fusion story? Is this a hoax?

I was thinking about that, too. We'll have to see if anyone else comes up
with similar results during the following time. And even if that is the
case it remains to be shown that you can actually build something like a
power station based on this concept. /Some/ fusion reactions take place in
more or less every hot fusion experiment nowadays... but break even is
still not reached.

 >> a copper disc which itself is surmounted by a tungsten probe.
 >> They cool and then heat the crystal, which creates an electric
 >> potential energy  of about 120 kilovolts at its surface.

 MvdV> There we have it: Eenrgy isn't expressed in Volts!

Michiel, of course you can measure energies by means of a potential in kV.
Photon energies are often given in eV or even in cm^-1, so what?

 >> The electric field at the end of the tungsten probe tip is so high
 >> (25 V/nm) that it strips electrons from nearby deuterium atoms.

 MvdV> 25 V/m is not a strong field. Certainly not enough to strip 
 MvdV> electrons.

Well, you omitted a factor of 10^9 here... 25 V/nm = 25GV/m.


Regards,
Gerrit

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