Path: santra!tut!draken!kth!mcvax!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!coplex!chuck
From: chuck@coplex.UUCP (Chuck Sites)
Newsgroups: alt.fusion
Subject: BH2++ the experiment (long)
Keywords: boron hydrogen cold fusion nickel copper speculation
Message-ID: <587@coplex.UUCP>
Date: 29 May 89 05:13:26 GMT
Organization: Copper Electronics,  Louisville, Ky.
Lines: 224


  First, I appoligize for the crude-ness of my last posting.  Lets just say
that I had trouble with an editor (vi to be exact).  The resulting chaos
that arose caused me post a roughed out version and trash my final version.
There were several mistakes in that posting which were not caught.  For
example the molecule is not BH2--.  It's BH2++.  The electron orbitals for
boron are 1s2 2s2 and 2p1, not s2 p2 and one lone d.  Most embarrasing.    
Grrrrrr.

   The actual experiments I've run are uncontrolled, and very simplistic
in nature.  I'm posting these for amusement of the NET. They are basement
physics experiements, so beware. 
      
   Let me explain where the desire to perform these experiments came from
and the reasoning behind it.  During the first weeks of the F&P anouncement, 
Paul Dietz posted an idea for a nuclear process; Li7+p->2He4 + energy, to 
expain the F&P experiement.  That seemed a pretty interesting thought so
maybe a B11+p->C12 could be done as well, specifically in a material which
was catalytic in nature (Ni, Pd, Pt, ect.).  Since the electric potential
near the D-layer of an electrolytic process can reach, near 10 million to
a billion volts / cm, I had to wonder if near the surface of the electrodes
we might have a small proton accellarator? (reference: Theories of Electrode
Processes, by Conway).  Of coarse, if this is the case, could transmutations
of surface elements be occuring?. Doubtful, but with such a large P.D.
and an ionic pressures reaching near 50000atm, one would expect all sorts of
interesting and possibly rare reactions to occur.   
   In reviewing some chem books I found that borax was not only a good source
of boron, but also has uses as a flux for nickel based solder:

                        /\
Na B O  * 10H O + NiO   ==  2NaBO   +  Ni(BO )  + 10H O
  2 4 7      2                   2          2 2      2 

Of interest was the Ni(BO ) compound. Since the initial idea was B11+p -> C12 
                         2 2  
I was hoping that B+ would form at the Ni cathode, and protons liberated from
the solution by electrolysis would bombard the boron atoms, and fuse. (Yeah
right, fat chance, but this was only a week after the F&P experiment, so I
was willing to believe anything.)  This lead to some quick experiments, which
I describe here. As it turned out, some of the results suprised me.
For example, the capacitance, and current stored in some of the cells I made
seems huge for what little material was involved. In other words there are
some pretty interesting battery effects which may be worth pursuing in thier
own right.  The battery effect also indicates that some fairly polarized ionic
compounds are formed.  After reviewing papers posted to the net by Koonin,
Horowitz, and others, along with calculations for the binding energies of
boron, it became clear that B11+p->C12 + binding energy, was pretty far
fetched.  What is clear from the papers by Koonin is that catalyzed fusion
by mediation of a third body has a definate potential for success.  In the
case of muon catalyzed fusion, the large mass of the muon with respect to
electron results in tightly coupled muo-molecule with hydrogen orbiting the
muon.  The overlap of the wave functions results in the potential for
tunneling.  The question then, is how to devlope a molecule where a similar
overlap could occur.  This lead me to wonder if two hydrogen atoms could share
the 3P electron of boron in a tri-body coavalt bond, and whether this could
result the tightly coulpled conditions necessary for CF.  The molecule would
be BH2++.  When Paul posted the rumor that boron was a component of the Pd
rods, I just had to post this idea.  From outward appearances it would seem
that a B2H++ molecule would be highly unstable, and not occur naturally.
However, under an electric field, specifically near the D-layer of the
electrodes, and by mediation from nearby ions, formation of BH2++ seems
possible, although probably short lived as a transiant compond.  I guess
the  question I'm asking the NET is this:
   Can 2 protons share a 3P electron, and could this result in a quantum
interaction necessary for the H nucli to over-come the coulomb barrier and
fuse? In the same line of thought, could an outer electron of Pd be shared
by 2 duetrium nucli and create a potential for cold-fusion?  Also, if such
a bond could form, wouldn't electron-nucli interactions cause selection of
the fusion path favoring charged particles over neutral particles? 
Ie.  D + D -> T + p  and exclude such processes as D + p -> He3, and
D + D -> He4.  Along the same line of thought wouldn't there be a
correspoding change in the quantum state of the electron resulting 
from the change of the rest-mass?    

  On to the "basement experiments".   These experiments are just for
amusement only. I really don't like to call these experiments.  Actually
they are better called gross observations. I don't want to imply that these
observations have anything to do with the previous speculations regarding
B2H++, but the connection with boron does exist.
I've ran the following tests:

  In petrea dishes (2 1/2Inch by 1/2inch) filled with 15Ml of distilled
H2O and 1.5 gm of borax combinations of Ni & Cu electrodes were used.
('Heat' indicates a rise from 20C to 50C Minimum) Quick Results show:  

== D/C 10v@1.5mA ==                            == A/C 60Hz 18V@1.5mA ==
   (+)   (-) 
    Ni - Ni  (Ni Heat, Salts on Ni)               Ni - Ni  (Heat)    
    Ni - Cu  (Ni Heat, Salts on Ni)               Ni - Cu  (Cu heat)
    Cu - Ni  (Salts on Cu+)                       Cu - Ni  (Cu heat) 
    Cu - Cu  (Salts on Cu+)                       Cu - Cu   

  The first of these experiments began in haste so, trust me, I had
no idea how funny this would sound in explaining why I chose the electrodes
that I did.  Quick what's a fair source of nickel?  A good 5 cent piece is,
so I used that.  Next, I wanted to run a control experiment to verify the
reaction with nickel, so I choose copper.  Quick, what has copper?  Old
pennies made before 1982. (I can hear the chuckles in the back there..) 
Seriously though, when properly cleaned, and shaped, they make good disk
electrodes. They are all the same size, shape, mass and are consistanly
pure (or pure enough for the effect I was looking for at that time) and
very available.
  Using a transformer based variable voltage power-supply, the DC voltage
supplied was 10v @ 1.5mA.  For the AC experiments, 18V @ 1.5mA @ 60Hz was
supplied.  C-shaped disk electrodes were made by cutting slits with a
saw about 1/8 inch from the center line on both sides and cutting 5/8 inches
down.  These tabs were then bent up 90 degrees where the wires were fastened
with aligator clips resulting in a C-shaped electrode.
   The first experiment was nickel - nickel.  Blue salts are formed on the
positive electrode indicating that a borate compound had formed.  After about
an hour or so, black salts began to form.  Of course hydrogen, and oxygen are
released.  After 3 to 4 days, most of the blue borate compond will disappear
leaving black salts, of Ni(BO2)2 (I assume). The negative electrode collected
a thin layer of brown-pink salts while emersed after a few days.  The anode
heats up significantly when the black salts formed. 
  The copper-copper suprised me initially because copper appeared just as
reactive as nickel to the electrolized borate soup.   Blue salts are formed
on  the anode, which remain blue even after several days.  However, after
2 days of electrolyzing, the cathode breaks down, releasing some brown
salts.  Now here is where it got interesting.  After turning off the
power-supply I noticed some residual charge in this small dish.  The
voltage output from the electrolyzed soup was 6Volts at nearly an Amp!
That would indicate that the electrolysis had caused massive polariztion
of charge carring salts to deposit on electrodes.  No heat was produced,
but it did make a pretty strong battery.
   Electodes of the nickel-copper, copper-nickel combinations were tried.
The Cu cathode/Ni anode produced heat on the Ni anode side.  From 20C TO 60C
in about 1hr. The heat appears when the black salt form.  It took about 3hr
to evaporate 15ml of H2O.  
   The A/C experiments are interesting. The Ni-Ni, Ni-Cu, Cu-Ni combinations
all generate heat, however, in the Ni-Cu, Cu-Ni combinations, it was the
copper that generates heat, not Nickel!  The heat seems a little higher too.
20C to about 80C in 3hrs. no salts appear to form, and very, very little gasses 
evolve. However, the nickel shows some discolorization at the tips of the
C-shaped electrodes. Because the Cu electrodes seem to be the source of heat,
it throughs a strange twist into the idea of a chemical evolution of heat.
But since Ni-Ni also generates heat, and Cu-Cu does not, it sugjests that a
Ni-B compound is a component of the source of heat.  
   A control run of all experiments A/C & D/C with pure H2O showed no
heat from any combination of electrodes.
=========================================================================
Conclusions: Since Ni seems to be involved in all heat evolving systems
I suspect the the source of heat is the chemical formation of Ni(BO2)2
and since the chemical equation for borax as a flux requires heat to 
evolve, I suspect a process under electrolysis, where Ni(BO2)2 is formed
releasing heat.  Ohmic (resistive) heating is possible since there are
obviously metalic salts formed.  However, why do none of the Cu-Cu
combinations produce heat?  Because of this I think resistive heating
can be ruled out. This leaves chemical heat or some other process.   

Wild speculation time:
If the heat (or some heat) is due to a fusion process, It would have to be
as follows:

p + p -> D + beta(+) + 0.42Mev.  

Formation of a molecule BH2++ under electrolysis seem a plausable. The way
I see it, the only way this molecule could form is under electrolysis.
A compound like BH2++ where hydrogen shared the one-3p orbital electron
looks like it would force the hydrogen together.  Thus, If a tri-body
covalent bond is possible in a charged field,  I suspect that it has 
the potential for CF to occur.  Because of heat results from these 
gross observations, maybe these experiment is worth pursuing in a formal
setting.  However, before you rush and try D2O, try H2O first.  If the heat
can be explained as ohmic, or chemical heating, don't waste the D2O.

------ Cathode -----    ----- Cathode -----    ----- Cathode -----
                                                                 
     (+H)   (+H)              (+H +H)              (+D)   (+beta)      
        \   /                    |                    \   /
         (B)                    (B)                    (B)

++++++  Anode ++++++     +++++  Anode ++++++    +++++  Anode ++++++


Regardless, I've convinced myself that the mechanism which causes
cold fusion is a similar to the BH2++ idea and is perhaps more
plausable considering the number of electrons, and bonding combinations
that exist.  The idea is that an outer electron of palladium allows 
two hydrogen atoms to form a tri-body bond, and the erratic 
three body coloumb interaction causes hydrogen to approach each other
and fuse.  However, because of the coloumb interactions between
the fusing hydrogen atoms and the electron orbitals, the fusion process
would be selective towards a result that retains charge.
Thus the idea is:     

------ Cathode -----    ----- Cathode -----    ----- Cathode -----
                                                                 
     (+D)   (+D)              (+D +D)              (+T)   (+p)      
        \   /                    |                    \   /
         (Pd)                   (Pd)                   (Pd)

++++++  Anode ++++++     +++++  Anode ++++++    +++++  Anode ++++++

Since the results for H2O with palladium have been dudes when compared
to D2O, perhaps the H elements are too light to allow the three-body
coloumb interactions. That is, the selection of H+H-> D + beta(+), where
the beta(+) is excluded by it's spin, makes the process difficult.      

End speculation. 

I predict that excitement of cold fusion will grow significantly in the
coming months as the real physics of this phenomenon is developed and 
discoveries made.  I sure wish I had more of a theoretical physics 
background right now.  It would be fun.

chuck@coplex  
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