[NewCandle] Heavy citric for whiter and brighter glow?

[Nick Reiter]

Hello, all,

Update time, with comparisons between 1M citric in H2O
and 1M citric in 3:1 H2O-D2O.

As I reported a couple of weeks back, there didn't
seem to be any deviation in heat evolution or Geiger
counter response when these solutions were run with an
AC 2-rod (5N aluminum) beaker system.  But I did at
first note what I thought might have been a slightly
brighter glow from the blended water electrolyte run. 
I got one pair of photos that showed this, but then
following runs (at least a half dozen) gave mixed
results, and I decided it had to have been my hopeful
imagination combined with maybe an artifact of room
lighting on the first go-around.

I tried the citric H2O-D2O blended water electrolyte
in some other configurations, such as the AC and DC
carbon rod pop can, AC twin foil strips, and AC twin
welding rod.  Pretty much a wash when compared either
by eye or digital camera.

However, over the weekend, inspired by Keith's
reference to use of a nickel wire mesh or grid for a
cathode, I went that route.  I lined the inside of my
100ml beaker with a coil of 1/16" diameter 316
stainless steel welding rod for a cathode, and used an
1/8" 4043 polished aluminum rod as my anode in the
center.  Powered it all with DC from my variable 0 to
500V Heathkit supply.  Gotta say... "SWWEEET!"

With maybe 1/2 hour conditioning, this little fellow
glows like a blue-green white firefly.  Nice
fusor-like geometry. Stainless seems very non-reactive
with the citric.

Now here's the thing - earlier today, I ran several
comparison runs with the normal water citric
electrolyte and the blended water version.  Ah-ha. 
Not my imagination.  The blended H2O D2O electrolyte
runs do seem to be noticeably brighter.  Slightly
whiter as well.  Odd.  Still no Geiger response, but
I've gotten several pairs of photos that seem to show
it clearly as being more luminous, for a given gamma
or enhancement level (we're talking 5 second exposures
here)

But now here's a rub.  Maybe an artifact?  I'm
puzzling over it...  When I was running my glow
comparisons, I would set currents the same, but I was
consistently seeing a higher voltage for the blended
H2O D2O electrolyte.  As if the blended is less
conductive than the normal water solution.  Is this a
known effect?  Is a one molar solution of an ionic
something in H2O more conductive than one molar of
same whatzit in D2O?  For currents of 25mA, for
example, the voltage applied to the normal water
solution was like 215VDC.  Identical arrangement for
the H2O D2O, the voltage was 260VDC.

I'm getting some picture pairs together, perhaps das
Keith would like to postem.  Will sendem in next day
or so.

NR

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