E-Cat Weekly -- December 29, 2011

pesn.com

Comment:

I checked out one of the articles here, titled "Could Starships Use Cold Fusion Propulsion?"  Personally, I didn't think so when I started reading, so that is not what I'm posting about here.

No, it is that the article is quite skeptical about the E-cat, and actually does a good job of debunking it.  Yes, it is a good job, the best I've seen so far.  Actually, the article doesn't do the heavy lifting, but only links to it here.  A concerted effort to read through it all should leave some significant questions for Rossi to answer.

But I am not totally convinced.  I'll tell you what gave me pause, and that is the protection from gamma rays.  Not being well trained in this area, I can see why this got past me before.  It doesn't seem likely that Rossi's device is doing what he claims unless he has more shielding than what he has.  But the reaction chamber is really small ( only a little over 3 cubic inches (50 cm3)).  Shielding that shouldn't be too difficult, but how do you know that Rossi actually did that?  That something that could lead to a quick dismissal of Rossi's claims.  But it could also lead to a confirmation.

The other part that may be significant is the copper ash of the claimed reaction.  I worked through these myself.  Now, I can see getting to copper 63, but not to copper 65 in the amounts claimed.  I think this is a significant point, and it is another thing that got by me.  But I never claimed to be an expert.

No, I'm not totally convinced one way or the other.  But Rossi has to prove his point.  He has done so yet.