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Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #334

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 334

Today's Topics:
         Re: Discovery - UFO Close Encounter?
 summary of Dr. Stanley Pons seminar of 3/31/89 (long, > 200 lines )
        Re: Success with cold fusion reported
         Re: Discovery - UFO Close Encounter?
               Re: Recovery of Salyut 7
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 30 Mar 89 23:56:29 GMT
From: xanth!hoptoad!hsfmsh![e-mail]  (Marco S. Hyman)
Subject: Re: Discovery - UFO Close Encounter?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Matthew T. DeLuca) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Stuart Warmink) writes:
> >
> >Ah, but who said they would want to contact the US government!   :->
> >("Wellcome, Comrad Alien")
> >--
> Well, from orbit, the United States is clearly the most advanced nation on
> Earth.  More roads, dams, and bridges are in the U.S. than anywhere else on
> Earth.  Compared to the U.S., the Soviet Union is third-rate, at best.

Exactly! Assuming capitalistic aliens, which country has a bigger potential
for exploitation, uh sales.

--marc
--
//Marco S. Hyman
//UUCP:   ...!sun!sfsun!hsfmsh!mhyman
//Domain: sfsun!hsfmsh![e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 1 Apr 89 04:51:09 GMT
From: mailrus!wasatch![e-mail]  (Timothy K Reynolds)
Subject: summary of Dr. Stanley Pons seminar of 3/31/89 (long, > 200 lines )


            The following  is the  text of  a handout which was given to
            most of  the attendees of Dr. Pons seminar at the University
            of Utah  on 3/31/89.   (reprinted w/o permission, but it was
            freely distributed)

            ^^^^^^^^^^^^begin text^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

                       BACKGROUND FOR NUCLEAR FUSION SEMINAR
                              FRIDAY, MARCH 31,  1989
                        2008 HENRY EYRING CHEMISTRY BUILDING

            An article  written by  Drs. B.  Stanley  Pons  and  Martin
            Fleischman describing their nuclear fusion research at the U
            of U  has been  accepted for  publication by the "Journal of
            Electroanalytical Chemistry."   The  article is  expected to
            appear in the publication in late April or early May.

            In the  article the researchers state: "We conclude that the
            conventional deuterium  fusion reactions  are only  a  small
            part of  the overall  reaction scheme and that other nuclear
            processes must be involved."

            There is  not yet a complete understanding of where the heat
            is coming  from.   Fusion occurs  in the  cells  but  fusion
            reactions do  not account for all the heat that is observed.
            As we  stated at  the press  conference  last  week  and  on
            several occasions since then, the investigators believe that
            no chemical reaction can account for the heat output so they
            attribute it to nuclear processes.

            Evidence for  nuclear fusion  includes; generation  of  heat
            over long  periods that is proportional to the volume of the
            electrode and  reactions that  lead  to  the  generation  of
            neutrons and  tritium  which  are  expected  by-products  of
            nuclear fusion.

            The researchers have also co-authored and submitted a second
            article to "Nature" for consideration for publication

            Dr. James J. Brophy
            Vice President for Research
            University of Utah

            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^end text^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

            What follows  is a  summary of  my notes from the lecture by
            Dr. Pons.   Due to limited seating, I watched the lecture on
            a projection TV.  Not very good resolution, so I missed some
            of the  equations,   but I think I got most of it.  Also the
            physicist in our group didn't get a seat in either lecture hall
            and was  not able  to verify  my notes/impressions.   He did
            look at my notes with me though and helped clear some things
            up.

                          Electrochemically Induced Fusion


                               By Dr. B. Stanley Pons

            Dr. Pons  began with a brief history of the work began by he
            and Fleischman.   Initially,  their interests  were  in  the
            development of  a metallic  hydrogen material  for use  as a
            semiconductor.   They realized  that immense  pressures were
            required in  a lattice  for this  to occur.   However,  they
            theorized that  it would  be possible  to  bring  about  the
            equivalent  of  this  immense  pressure  by  electrochemical
            methods.   From these  initial musings, they also considered
            whether this  "electrochemical pressure"  could be  used  to
            fuse like nuclei (deuterium).

            The initial  experiment used  a cube of Pd (size not stated)
            in D2O at high current density (again not stated).  A Geiger
            counter was  used to  detect any  radiation from  the fusion
            reaction of  D.   However no  radiation was  detected.   The
            experiment was discontinued by reducing the current density,
            and shortly  thereafter (overnight  I think is what he said)
            the   experimental    apparatus   was   vaporized.      Left
            approximately 1/10 of the initial Pd.

            Current apparatus  uses a Pd rod in 0.1M D2O in a cell which
            has been  widely seen in the media.  It consists of a Pd rod
            surrounded by  a Pt  coil in a special made glass container.
            There are  openings for  charging and  adding D2O, measuring
            temperature, and  heaters.   The use  of  rod  gives  better
            control of the surface to volume ratio.  During electrolysis
            of the D2O the following reactions take place:

                            D2O + e-   <--->   Da + OD-
                                  Da  <--->  Dlat
                           Da + D2O + e-  <--->  D2 + OD-

            where Da is deuterium adsorbed on the surface of the Pd rod,
             and Dlat is deuterium diffused into the lattice of the Pd.

            Before the  surface of  the electrode  is saturated with Da,
            the D  diffuses into  the lattice  of the  Pd.  The evidence
            suggests that  the deuterium  diffuses into  the lattice  as
            deuterons and  electrons.  The electrons go to the k band of
            the lattice.

            Dr. Pons  stated that  the potential of this electrochemical
            couple is 0.8V.  In terms of pressure to get the same degree
            of difference in chemical potential = 10**27 atmospheres.

            Dr. Pons  explained a  control experiment  where they used a
            closed cell  to detect  tritium (else  some tritium would be
            lost as  by exchange  with D2O).   Tritium was detected, and
            its concentration  increased over  time.   Also the  neutron
            flux was  measured as  10**4 n/s.   This  is 3X  higher than
            background and  was  considered  statistically  significant.
            However, the  reactions to  produce tritium  and 3He  do not
            explain the amount of heat produced.

            In this  same vein,  he pointed  out that  their experiments
            indicated that  the heat  produced was  proportional to  the
            volume of  the electrode  used, not  the surface area of the
            electrode.     This  indicates   that  the  process  is  not
            electrochemical in  nature.   An energy density of 26W/cc of
            electrode was  calculated.   One experiment  produced 4MJ of
            heat in 120 hours.  He reiterated that this could not be due
            to any known physical or chemical process.  Since the fusing
            of deuterium  is only  part of  the overall reaction scheme,
            other as  yet unknown processes produce the rest of the heat
            which  is   detected.    Dr.  Pons  believes  these  unknown
            processes must be nuclear processes.

            He also  surmised that  the  deuterons  existed  in  the  Pd
            lattice as  a low  temperature plasma  which is  shielded by
            electrons.

            Dr.  Pons  then  answered  several  questions  from  Faculty
            members (there  were no  microphones in  the room  with  the
            graduate  students  where  I  was).    The  content  of  his
            responses are summarized below.

            This reaction  is diffusion  controlled, with  the diffusion
            coefficient for deuterons in Pd given as 10^-7 cm^2/s.

            The production  rate of  tritium was  found to match that of
            the neutrons.

            Although the  cross-section of  Pd is too small to allow for
            significant reaction  with energetic  neutrons, it may react
            with neutrons back-scattered from the heavy water.  No assay
            of the  Pd electrodes  has  been  undertaken  to  check  for
            activation by-products of Pd.

            The ignition/vaporization  of  the  initial  experiment  was
            caused by  a steep  concentration  gradient  of  D+  as  the
            current  density   was  decreased.     This   gave  rise  to
            compression (even  greater than  *normal*) as the D+ species
            moved out  from the  lattice in  a radial  direction.   This
            "shock" resulted in the vaporization.

            No 2.45Mev neutrons were detected.  He speculated that these
            neutrons may be consumed by reaction with Li:

                        7Li + n + 2.45MeV ---> 3T + 3He + n
                           6Li + n ---> 3T +3He + 4.5MeV

            The concentration  of the  deuterons in  the Pd  lattice  is
            greater than  0.67 (deuterons/Pd  atoms) and is estimated to
            be 1.0  -  1.2.    They  are  believed  to  cluster  at  the
            octahedral sites  in the  Pd (Pd  has a  face centered cubic
            crystal structure).

            In looking  for products of fusion, 3He was not seen but 4He
            was.   Part of  the reason  for not seeing 3He is due to the
            apparatus  used   (apparently   not   very   airtight)   and
            instruments used.

            Other metals  (which  were  not  specified)  were  tried  as
            electrodes but  no heat  was detected.   Radiation  was  not
            monitored.

            No experiments  have been  carried out in magnetic fields to
            determine quadrupole  effects.   He admitted  that spin-spin
            interactions could have an effect.

            The reaction  is diffusion controlled.  In a 0.4 - 0.5mm rod
            with X=10^-7 cm^2/s, the time required to start the reaction
            is [ (0.2)^2 / X ].

            He did  not know the effective mass of the electron carriers
            in the Pd matrix.

            He felt  that the  addition of  hydrostatic pressure  to the
            cell would  have a  negligible affect  on the  rate  of  the
            reaction.  The potential gradient at the D2O Pd interface is
            on the  order of  10^12 V/m.    This  gradient  can  not  be
            achieved in gas or vacuum phase conditions.

            They have recently achieved a 1W in 10W out energy ratio.

            Essentially no  neutrons or  tritium are  detected until the
            fusion process begins.

            He jokingly  predicted that  100 years  would be  needed  to
            bring this technology to commercial use.

            He admitted that the results were just as puzzling to him as
            they are to many others.  He openly admits that much more work
            is needed to understand this phenomenon.  (He did not seem to
            resent any questions, and was honest in his responses.)

            He ended  his talk  with a  WARNING.   Please do  not DO NOT
            attempt to  repeat this  experiments until you have read the
            journal  articles  or  have  consulted  with  Drs.  Pons  or
            Fleischman directly.  The initial experiment which vaporized
            is no  joke.   Please consult  with them  or  wait  for  the
            articles to  appear before  you begin  a possibly  dangerous
            experiment.  Please act responsibly in this regard.

            [Please remember, these are my personal notes taken during a
            lecture presented in less than optimum conditions.  If there
            are any  gross errors,  they are  probably my  fault.   As I
            said, I  briefly went over these notes with a physicist from
            or lab,  and he  did  not  point  out  any  glaring  errors.
            Nonetheless, the  information presented  is essentially that
            presented by  Dr. Pons.   No  sound or video recordings were
            allowed, so  the opportunity  to check my notes was limited.
            In other words please don't flame me.]

            [e-mail]            Behind the Zion Curtain

------------------------------

Date: 31 Mar 89 02:49:13 GMT
From: xanadu![e-mail]  (Michael McClary)
Subject: Re: Success with cold fusion reported

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Miroslav Kocic) writes:
>
>[...] if history teaches
>anything, it teaches that every benefit has a proportional price.

Actually, history teaches no such thing.  Benefits and prices of any given
discovery or invention don't correlate.  Those with prices up to their
benefits tend to be developed and used (unless something cheaper does the
job as well or better).  Those with excessive prices are discarded.  This
creates the illusion of proportional cost.

Once this illusion is set in your mind, everything new with improved price/
performance makes you think "there's got to be a catch", and sends you on
a search to find the catch.  If you can't accept the lack of a catch, you
can never end your search, and can never go beyond what had been done before.

This is not to say such a search is folly.  Many things DO have catches,
and these need to be discovered.  But be prepared to acknowledge real wonders
now and then.

------------------------------

Date: 31 Mar 89 18:59:38 GMT
From: nsc![e-mail]  (Ken Trant)
Subject: Re: Discovery - UFO Close Encounter?

article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Matthew T. DeLuca) says:
% Xref: nsc sci.space:10525 rec.ham-radio:1611 talk.rumors:915 misc.headlines:12001
% In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Stuart Warmink) writes:
%>Ah, but who said they would want to contact the US government!   :->
%>("Wellcome, Comrad Alien")
%>--
% Well, from orbit, the United States is clearly the most advanced nation on
% Earth.  More roads, dams, and bridges are in the U.S. than anywhere else on
% Earth.  Compared to the U.S., the Soviet Union is third-rate, at best.

 Assumming of course that the aliens believe paving over the earth is a sign
of an advanced civilization and not a sign of a very primative culture.

 Ken-
--
PATH= Second star to the right,          {...Ken Trant...}
      and straight on till morning
National SemiConductor, 1135 Kern Ave. M/S 7C-266; Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Uucp: ...{pyramid,sun,amdahl,apple}!nsc!ken

------------------------------

Date: 31 Mar 89 14:16:20 GMT
From: mcvax!ukc!etive![e-mail]  (Bob Gray)
Subject: Re: Recovery of Salyut 7

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mike Wexler) writes:
>mission was? I can think of several possibilities:

>    3. so they can analyze the effects of long term exposure to LEO.

This seems like the best reason for bringing Salyut 7 down
in one bit. Taking it apart in a laboratory back on Earth
will provide the Soviets with a lot of very valuable
information on how materials and machinery wear and
deteriorate during long term exposure to conditions in orbit.

Build for a short lifetime, analyse anything that goes
wrong, re-design, re-build. That seems to be the usual
Soviet space exploration technique.

Contrast with the NASA method of a designing the space
station to have a 30 year life expectancy, using new alloys
and plastics, none of which have had any long term exposure
to conditions in orbit.
    Bob.

------------------------------

End of SPACE Digest V9 #334
*******************