[NewCandle] aluminum holiday

Mon Dec 8 15:42:49 EST 2008

Hey nick,

Yeah, I just did the release for Espacenet fix, and now that
I'm into the code I'm just pushing ahead with the 2009 new
feature release. Getting started on these things is always
a bear, so once the boulder is rolling it's best to just
press ahead. 

That said, the challenge with this experiment is proving
that any xmutation is taking place. The more sensitive the
detection method, the better chance we have of seeing some
kind of effect so as to start moving in the right direction.
I did some prelim work with a mg scale, but making a quantitative
measure of the results requires 100% recovery of the silver
just for starters so it's not so easy you know? Some
will remain in solution unless you treat it, so there
is plenty of room for error.  

For now, we can start with what we got, just to get a feel
for what's happening on the micro scale when the displacement
reaction takes place.

I am not aware of any K->Na claims, but for the usual K+p or Na+p
claims that several have made. Besides, that's going in the
wrong direction huh? (grin). I think that there will be a
substantial concentration of stray metals onto the aluminum
as a result of the displacement reaction, so more sodium
might be expected from normal chemistry.

You know Nick, it strikes me that perhaps you've got a good
idea but are going at it in the opposite direction. That is
to say, have you tried doing one of these Al corrosion experiments
as _slowly_ as possible. Get the reaction to play out over
the course of several months, rather than days. Not nearly
as exciting to a couple of unrepentant pyros, but perhaps
more likely to produce some anomalous elemental xmutation.

K. 

-----Original Message-----
From: newcandle-bounces at ipdiscover.com
[mailto:newcandle-bounces at ipdiscover.com]On Behalf Of Nick Reiter
Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2008 7:12 AM
To: New energy for the new world.
Subject: Re: [NewCandle] aluminum holiday

Hi Keith,

Sorry to drop the ball on this one for a week or so -
much ado at the lab, and not much opportunity to focus
on matters alchemical.

A screening experiment sounds decent.  I'll measure
out how much AgNO3 I have in the packet, and see what
would be prudent for a base reaction screening run.  I
could then run a second data point, with some
arbitrary molar amount of AlNO3 (I'm thinking
.01M)added to reduce the reaction rate.  And do a
baseline EDS on the aluminum surface as well.

The best balance I have is a 1mg pan balance, in good
condition and true reading.  In my own experiments, I
often use a .5mg minimum resolution (half unit).  I'm
far less familiar with conductivity testing for
concentration, so I'll chew on that one.

All said, though, I should be able to get the
screening work organized this next week.

In other news, I've been looking now with EDS at the
eroded foil remains from the KCl + D2O aluminum foil
roll hydrolysis (the latest "Pixie" bucket to have
been run).  This is the one where I took a preliminary
look at whitish creeping salts a week or so ago, as
the hydrolysis was just beginning to catalyze.

I think I reported on how the small amount of D2O
added once again attenuated or slowed the "sequence"
leading up to bubbling hydrolysis.  Once things kicked
in, though, it was vigorous, and in the end, about 3
liters of water was consumed.

This run had some curiosities.  Using a
candle-lighter, I could ignite bubble sheets on the
water surface, and see the pale violet hue of K.  As
the bubbling passed its peak and began to drop off, I
noticed that the flame front became clearer and even
sounded less explosively "pop-ey"

EDS of the foil surfaces didn't turn up anything
exotic - being cautious about peak overlays and
echoes.  The oxides formed were curious though in
their form - a bi-modal oxide crust on the Al surfaces
- with a fused looking smooth surface underneath a
layer of dogtooth blades... very un-alumina like; not
the usual hex columnar growth.

Another mystery is that of the appearance of sodium in
an amount and distribution that seems WAY out of line
(>1%) with the max amount of Na indicated in the
starting KCl (said to be <.05%)

Some possibly surprising appearances of Si and Fe
again in borderline amounts.

The appearance of too-much sodium is fodder for my
thought, though.  Have not yet figured out an "a-ha"
to explain that one.  Is there any LENR lore
mentioning conversion of K into Na?

All the best,

nr

> Very little hard information was available regarding
> those Al/Ag xmutation
> experiments. That said, the basic system is very
> robust and was/is
> used commercially to extract Ag from nitric acid
> leached ore solutions.
> This is essentially a displacement reaction: the Al
> is dissolved and
> goes into solution forming a more basic Al nitrate,
> and the Ag is
> plated out forming the characteristic "christmas
> tree" dendritic
> structure. The more Ag in solution, the faster will
> be the displacement
> reaction. The aluminum nitrate acts to reduce the
> rate of displacement,
> so you can conceivably have a fairly rich
> concentration of Ag
> and still have the slow displacement necessary to
> (hopefully)
> see the effect.
> 
> I was able to find some more info from my old notes
> when I went
> looking for the work I did on that spark gap
> oscillator. Using
> 1/4 gram of silver nitrate in 10 ml of water, I
> would see
> a substantial reaction for about a week. This was
> done in a
> cold basement during winter, so the temps were quite
> low
> ( probably 50-60 degrees F ). You should try that
> first,
> and look at the resulting dendrites and substrate
> under
> the microscope to get a feel for what a "normal"
> reaction
> would be.
> 
> The challenge then is to quantify the results. You
> have better scales than I have/had access to, so if
> you can make accurate milligram measures and achieve
> consistant rates of recovery of the silver from the
> resulting solutions, perhaps 100mg of silver per
> experiment
> would be a good target quantity.    
> 
> Alternately, one could try to redissolve the silver
> with
> more nitric acid, and measure concentration of
> silver
> ion before and after displacement. This appeals to
> me
> for several reasons, but I'm unsure how to do this
> accurately. Any suggestions or product
> recommendations?
>

The Holy Grail 'neath ancient Roslin waits.
The blade and chalice guarding o'er Her gates. 
Adorned in the masters' loving art, She lies;
She rests at last beneath the starry skies.

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