From: gherbert@crl3.crl.com (George Herbert)
Newsgroups: alt.engr.explosives
Subject: Re: Limits
Date: 30 May 1999 00:26:13 -0700

Dirk Bruere  <artemis@kbnet.co.uk> wrote:
>C.Beglin wrote:
>> Blimey Dirk - this is a HUGE subject!!  You writing a thesis or
>> something?  I await posts with eager anticipation..........
>
>Not too huge, unless one's trying to home in on specific, accurate
>numbers.
>For example, what's the max strength of a chemical bond, and if this
>were put into accelerating a hydrogen atom (proton) from the molecule we
>might get an upper bound on Vdet

Actually, the strongest chemical explosive probably isn't found
in breaking a bond, but making one... monatomic hydrogen recombining
into diatomic hydrogen has the highest known energy per unit mass
reaction of any chemical type reaction, as I understand it,
and is even high energy density for volume if you use frozen
monatomic hydrogen (which you have to for reasons of stability...
actually, stability is sort of a misnomer, it's not *really*
stable period, but more stability than instant self detonation...).

A friend at NASA has done some work on using it as a rocket fuel,
the usual result of microgram experiments is blowing the insides
out of the mini test stand they use to make it in...


-george william herbert
gherbert@crl.com

From: gherbert@crl3.crl.com (George Herbert)
Newsgroups: alt.engr.explosives
Subject: Re: Limits
Date: 31 May 1999 13:38:14 -0700

Dirk Bruere  <artemis@kbnet.co.uk> wrote:
>> [monatomic hydrogen]
>> > A friend at NASA has done some work on using it as a rocket fuel,
>> > the usual result of microgram experiments is blowing the insides
>> > out of the mini test stand they use to make it in...
>
>How do they get that stuff in such quantities? I remember reading years
>ago of attempts to stabilise it in some sort of matrix, but have heard
>little since.

So far, no luck.  Low priority research continues, but there are
no obvious easy solutions.


-george william herbert
gherbert@crl.com

From: gherbert@crl3.crl.com (George Herbert)
Newsgroups: alt.engr.explosives
Subject: Re: Limits
Date: 31 May 1999 15:32:48 -0700

Dirk Bruere  <artemis@kbnet.co.uk> wrote:
>[re: monatomic hydrogen]
>Wondering just now whether 'cold fusion' might involve stabilised
>monatomic H in a metal matrix. Possibly a new class of explosives.

Hydrogen atoms diffused within metal matricies are generally monatomic,
but kept so by the matrix spacing.  No net energy is created by the
eventual recombination of the monatomic atoms, as no net energy is
consumed by their absorbtion into the metal in the first place.


-george william herbert
gherbert@crl.com

From: gherbert@crl3.crl.com (George Herbert)
Newsgroups: alt.engr.explosives
Subject: Re: Limits
Date: 31 May 1999 16:27:09 -0700

Dirk Bruere  <artemis@kbnet.co.uk> wrote:
>George Herbert wrote:
>> >Wondering just now whether 'cold fusion' might involve stabilised
>> >monatomic H in a metal matrix. Possibly a new class of explosives.
>>
>> Hydrogen atoms diffused within metal matricies are generally monatomic,
>> but kept so by the matrix spacing.  No net energy is created by the
>> eventual recombination of the monatomic atoms, as no net energy is
>> consumed by their absorbtion into the metal in the first place.
>
>That's under normal conditions, but Fleishman and Pons got large energy
>releases (whether they got more out than they put in was the big
>question).

It doesn't matter.  If you look at the energy balance, no more
energy is formed by letting them recombine than is released when
the absorb into the matrix.  Period.  The mode of storage is immaterial.

Alleged fusion or other chemical reactions are a completely different
story, which I choose to not get involved in.  The important point
here is that the hydrogen molecule splitting and recombination is
well understood and energy neutral.  If there was surplus energy
in the various cold fusion experiments it comes from some other
source than monatomic->diatomic recombination.


-george william herbert
gherbert@crl.com