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98) A cold fusion demo at MIT
Ludwik Kowalski (August 14, 2003)
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, NJ, 07043
The web site of the ICCF-10 (10th International Conference on cold Fusion) has a brief description of a demonstration of excess heat from an electrolytic cell. Professor John Dash and his students (Portland State University) will perform the demo in an MIT laboratory. Here is how this event is described on the conference web site:
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Demonstration
An excess heat experiment of John Dash is to be fielded in connection with ICCF10. This will be a technical demonstration to be done at MIT, in order to better inform the attendees about his work, and to respond to technical questions.
Technical description:
A control cell containing two platinum foil electrodes and an electrolyte containing sulfuric acid and light water is connected in series to an experimental cell containing a platinum foil anode, a palladium foil cathode, and an electrolyte containing sulfuric acid and heavy water. After passing current for several hours, the experimental cell is found to produce up to four watts of excess thermal power in comparison to the control cell. Excess heat is produced in about 75% of the experiments. Evidence of localized concentrations of silver is found on most of the palladium electrodes after electrolysis.
Three high school students and one graduate student will be on hand to discuss their results on these experiments.
Popular description:
Prof. John Dash and his students will show how they have investigated the excess heat effect associated with "cold fusion". An instrument to measure heat, called a calorimeter will be used to show how production of excess energy is measured. Using this apparatus, the students at Portland State University have generated this excess energy effect with frequent success. Perhaps unexpectedly, this energy is obtained from an electrolytic process involving only heavy water, palladium and platinum, with an acid used to conduct current through the solution.
A viewing of Dash's set up is planned for Monday night with the other events when the public is invited, in order to stimulate discussion.
Acknowledgment:
This research is performed in the low energy nuclear laboratory at Portland State University, Portland, OR, under the direction of Professor John Dash. It is funded by a grant from the Academy Of Applied Science and by a grant from the New York Community Trust. The New Energy Foundation provided transportation expenses to bring this demonstration team from Oregon.
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Additional information about student’s cold fusion experiments, with pictures of students and equipment, can be found at:
http://www.lenr-canr.org/Experiments.htm#HighSchoolStudents
In the middle of the document one finds this general description:
“High School Students Do Cold Fusion
Every summer, high school students work with Prof. John Dash, of Portland State University, in cold fusion experiments, as part of the Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering program, which allocates high school students to summer internships all over Oregon and Southern Washington. In 2003, Corissa Lee and Shelsea Pedersen participated. They will be seniors next semester. They were assisted by Ben Zimmerman, who was an apprentice in 2002, and who will be attending the University of Chicago this Fall. Zimmerman describes the 2003 program:
‘Our experiment is very rudimentary electrolysis of palladium in a D20 and Sulfuric Acid electrolyte, running under modest current (from 3-4 amps) with a non-reactive identical control cell for comparison of heat flow. So far, we've analyzed temperature readings and found that the cells used so far produce on average .5 watts, and as high as .9 watts as excess. Also, we've analyzed the palladium cathodes of similar experiments and found anywhere from 2 to 20% of unaccounted for silver with an SEM after electrolysis from cathodes that produced excess heat.’ ”
At the bottom of the document one has a link to a poster summarizing a research project of Jon Warner, J. Dash, and S. Frantz. It is actually a poster, entitled, ELECTROLYSIS OF D2O WITH TITANIUM CATHODES: ENHANCEMENT OF EXCESS HEAT AND FURTHER EVIDENCE OF POSSIBLE TRANSMUTATION. That poster was shown at the 9th International Conference on Cold Fision (China, 2002).
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