From: ames!FNALD.FNAL.GOV!DROEGE
Subject: Clean
Reply-To: ames!FNALD.FNAL.GOV!DROEGE
Organization: Sci.physics.fusion/Mail Gateway
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 23:38:36 GMT

I blush when I read Dieter Britz's comments about clean.  OK, I am slowly
learning.  The brass came from a gold plated connecter in the gas at the top
of the cell.  At high currents the cell must be full of churning hot vapor.  
At least it ate the gold and then the brass.  That design was at least a year
old.  We do better now.  

Mitchell Swartz asked about the stainless steel.  It was likely #304W, but it
could have been #316.  There is still a piece of stainless steel in the 
present cell.  Also glass, teflon, Pd and Pd.  

Forgot Polypropylene and the catalyst which is proprietary Pd compound on
an alumina substrate.  The next generation cell will be Teflon, Pd, and Pd.  
With the catalyst in a second compartment.  Still if bad stuff leaches out
of the catalyst, I will be in trouble.  This is an argument for using the 
hot Pt wire technique as used by Scott.  Or better still, hot Pd wire.
Once it gets going the current through the wire can be turned off.  My fancy
electronic system allows me to do such things while maintaining a balance.  

I know my hardware store bought solvents and clean technique look awful to 
you Dieter.  I learn every day, and hope to get up to a C or so in clean from 
my present D- or E.  

I note that most of the experiments I have seen (with the exception of McKubre)
are just as bad from an electronic measurement standpoint as my level of clean.
Two clip leads indeed!

This is an argument for getting us together.  I will be able to take the next
generation calorimeter apart, put it in my car, and take it somewhere where
an electrochemist with a clean lab can put something nice into it.  Sorry 
Dieter, I cannot drive to Denmark.  But I am open to nearby offers.  

Since no one in the US wants to pay to put together a good team (except EPRI 
and they are after commercial interests) then we have to piece it together 
as well as we can.  So I tell all on the net and you beat me up.  With each
blow I get stronger.  

Since I follow the semiconductor industry I can reveal to you all that often
the only difference between a 10 cent transistor and a $10 dollar transistor 
is that the $10 unit has been tested.  Are there solvents that I can use that
are naturally clean by the way that they are made?  Where ultrapure means they
have taken standard production stuff and measured and certified a purity level?

I think the difference that Jed Rothwell has with many of us is that he choosed
to believe the measurements that he has heard about.  Some of us have to see
enough detail of the measurements to make them credible to us.  Most of the
positive results that Jed relies on are not yet in Dieter Britz's bibliography.
To a large extent, I agree with Dieter not reading work that has not been 
reviewed and published in a journal.  I am particularly upset with McKubre.  He
has had plenty of time, and his work is good enough for publication.  So Mike,
put your reputation on the line and submit a paper!  Or shut up and go 
completely secret!

Tom Droege
Newsgroups: sci.physics.fusion