Newsgroups: sci.physics.fusion
Subject: Rusty alligator clips.
From: jonesse@physc1.byu.edu
Date: 14 Dec 92 17:43:03 -0700
Distribution: world
Organization: Brigham Young University

Jed Rothwell incorrectly states (8 Dec 1992, and similar statements in various
postings):  "Beuhler and Jones have suggested that in Nagoya the control cell
was losing heat into the atmosphere, because they say that thin silver wire is
nearly as resistant as nichrome wire. ... Let me add that if Beuler and Jones
had been correct, and silver really was almost as resistant as nichrome
(taking into account the different thicknesses of the wires), that would have
been a Nobel class discovery..."

David Beuhler and I never claimed that "thin silver wire is nearly as
resistant as nichrome wire."  Rather, at my suggestion, David spoke to Dr.
Notoya who moved the alligator clips on the thin wires entering the control
cell to points near the cell.  David recorded the voltages and currents before
and after the move.  From these data, we determined that considerable power
was being dissipated into the air:  about 36% of the total joule heating in
the "control" was evidently lost into the air.  We did not need to know the
material of which the thin wires leading to the control cell were made
(as Dieter Britz also explained in his "Silver,
schmilver, power play" posting).  Perhaps the very thin wire was kinked or
had high resistance for some other reason.  Unfortunately, Dr. Notoya 
"tossed the old silver wire, so she can't say how resistant it was", 
quoting Rothwell. 

Perhaps Jed has given us a clue as to where the heat was lost that
does not require the thin lead wires themselves to be high in resistance.
In his posting of 9 Dec. 1992 ("Silver the same everywhere in the world"), he
notes:  "As far as the seat of the pants alligator clip measuring method goes
-- I watched people struggle with alligator clips at MIT, and I do not 
recommend them.  THE ONES IN NAGOYA WERE PARTICULARLY BAD:  THEY WERE RUSTED.
They make a very poor, unreliable contact..."  (J. Rothwell posting, 9Dec.,
capitalization added.)

Hmmmmm. Rusty alligator clips.  This seems inconsistent with Jed's
posting regarding the need for cleanliness and skill in such experiments:
"So, a really good experiment requires a *really* clean setup. ...  Before
you do a CF experiment, you would be well advised to spend two weeks in the lab
with someone like Notoya, who has been doing this sort of thing for 30 years,
and knows a million tricks you never imagined exist."  ("Experience counts",
9 Dec. 1992)    

There were clearly problems in the Notoya xs heat "demonstration",
not the least of which is that at MIT, "The demo did not work properly..."
(Rothwell, 8 Dec., "Notoya Demo & Lecture").
I suggest we move on to other things now.


Note that the wires leading to the Pd plates in Akito Takahashi's xs heat
experiment in Osaka were simply looped through a hole in the top of the each
plate.  The plate and loop of wire were both exposed to electrolytic processes
which could alter the conductivity of the connection.
I expressed my concern about this to Dr. Takahashi during my visit to his lab,
in October. (I was most surprised to see the questionable connections.)
I warned Dr. Takahashi that this would result in unreliable contacts.

I agree that extreme care is required for a definitive experiment.
Hopefully, when problems such as these are pointed out, they will be
corrected (or answered) by the experimenters.  I think that good scientists
will respond to such criticisms with a degree of appreciation, and will
not resort to  ad hominem attacks on the critic.   Moreover, skepticism about
the conclusions of the experiments are justified as long as such problems
persist.

Sincerely,
Steven E. Jones


Newsgroups: sci.physics.fusion