Crystal Power CeLL by John Hutchison

[Koen1]

Feynman, thanks for that!

Remarkable that Hutchison does want to talk on his show but does not reply to
emails with similar questions...

Although I find your action commendable, I have some questionmarks on Hutchisons answers...

First of all, he says we shouldn't focus on the quartz. Later on he says one of the ingredients needs to be sand.
Now I don't know what type of sand he is talking about, but to my knowledge sand is mostly quartz...

Second, Hutchison gave me a similar "recipe" some time back, but it was slighlty different.
He did not talk about using Galena back then.

Third, if you mix Rochelle salts, Iron pyrite, and Galena with water and heat it,
you should get a sulphuric acid solution with lead and iron ions in it, and the rochelle salts
merely add electrolyte...
sounds like a mix that is VERY galvanically active, which should mean galvanic reactions,
which smells of a normal chemical battery reaction to me...
And I thought we wanted to avoid that.

Fourth, even if we were certain these are the exact ingredients used, the ratios of the
materials used in the mix are crucial. You can't just toss any amount together and hope
it will work.
Take "normal" germanium diodes for example, the p- and n- dopants used in those
are generally something like 1% dopant in the germanium, and a few % more has
a huge effect on its function as a diode... So how much of which you mix together
can have enormous effects.

So the questions that remain, in my mind, are:
- what are the ratios of the ingredients used
- is Hutchison being completely truthful about the ingredient list, as info received
from him in the not too distant past was clearly significantly different on the exact same subject

That said, thanks Feynman for the call-in action there, and for posting the info here!
I salute you.

You wouldn't happen to have a URL with the radio show, would you?

kind regards,
Koen

[Koen1]

I am sure you just saved a bunch of people a lot of time with experiments here.

Heh... Not really.
I knew this story.
Problem is there are different versions that Hutchison has brought forward.
This one has Galena as crucial ingredient, another story did not.
Another one included barium titanate, and another version included
silver coated metal electrodes...
It seems Johns story tends to change slightly over time...

Another problem is that Germanium is freaking expensive: over 600 euros for 200 grams!
Nothing cheap about it at all.

And we still need to experiment to get the ratios right,
that is assuming that Hutchison gave a truthful and exact ingredient list this time.
Which I doubt.
And experimenting with such expensive material is not for everyone...

Still, Feynman did a great job contacting JH, that's true

[Koen1]

Okay, since we've now got a few people here who seem to actually
want to try some experiments, besides Ian and Jeanna and me who
have already done quite a few between the three of us,
I will give a short breakdown of the approach I have been using.

Originally I had some ideas about incorporating quartz into semiconductor
diodes, thinking the naturally oscillating quartz might be used to excite
electrons (and holes) at the p-n junction much in the same way an
incoming photon excites them in a solar cell p-n junction. This idea
I had dubbed the "Quartz Diode" and my first concept drawings of that
stem from 2000/2001.
Fairly quickly I had determined that it was near impossible for me to
produce p- and n-doped semiconductor material of the purity needed
to produce an actual functional semiconductor diode comparable to
those produced industrially and commercially available, for several
reasons but mostly because I do not have a "clean room" with a
1500+ degree kiln for melting the materials.
So I decided I was going to look into other possible compositions
and types of materials I could make with them. This path turned
out to be very similar to that followed by both Hutchison and Reid,
as I later found out.

My approach is still very similar to my "quartz diode" concept:
basically we just want naturally oscillating material such as quartz
to stimulate electron flow, and we want to use diode-like rectification
to "lead" this flow in one direction only.
That means making a material with quartz in it for excitation, and
with p-n semiconductor properties.
So we want to use semiconductive materials in the mix.
Common semiconductive compounds are:
Galena (PbS), Titanium oxide, Iron oxide, Copper oxide,
silicium, germanium, etc etc.
So it seems we may want to use these materials in the mix.

I have made various cells, and one of my most recent paths of
examination was a line of cells made with a mix of several of
those "common" semiconductor materials.
Attached you will find a pic of two of my large cells;
the left is a "Reid"-style based cell with a material that is
based on the material Reid uses/used in his cells, and
the right is a cell from that semiconductor compound mix
line. That particular cell has a mix that I have described before:
titanium oxide, iron oxide, cobalt oxide, aluminium oxide,
fine quartz sand, several common silicates, little bit of additives
like kaolin, borax, mica. The one on the pic does not contain
pyrite or tourmaline, but I have made some that do.
Oh, by the way, both of these cells give around 1V output
at a low milliamperage, nothing structural above 10mA.

As for the Germanium, I have been trying to purchase Germanium
powder for use in my experiments for quite some time now,
and so far the closest I have gotten is a rough price indication.
A company in the UK claims to be able to supply it at
prices of about 200 pounds per 100 grams, and one here in NL
offers it for 300 euros per 100 grams... But both companies act
like its a big deal and seem a bit reluctant...
It seems a bit strange to me that Hutchison refers to this material
as "cheap"... titanium oxide, that's cheap. Germanium is flippin expensive!
Perhaps H uses only a very small quantity in his cells?
Then it would be relatively cheap...
But since we don't know the ratios of his ingredients at all, that's
all idle speculation I guess...


In any case, if anyone wants to try some mixes of common
semiconductors, then please keep us posted?

[Feynman]

1) I think he meant that quartz (as in ground up quartz rocks) was not crucial.  He DID mention finely ground sand, which would also be silicon dioxide (SiO2). 

2)  Yes, I know the ratios are important, but I felt that would be pushing the request. Especially on radio.   I figure we can at least try experimenting now that we've narrowed things down a bit.  Plus it gives us the added knowledge of trying things.  What fun would it be if there was no mystery? 

3) As for that Barium compound, he did mention it as a possible ingredient, but it seemed it was not an ingredient in the 'classic' vintage Hutchinson cells (my own speculation).  It seemed that the barium addition a new area of experimentation.   As a side note, barium is a group 2 element, so it's closest to Magnesium and Calcium in its electron configuration.

4) Regarding the electrodes, I didn't ask about these.  Silver seems to me to be a good material for this since it resists corrosion and is the best conductor.   

5) If Germanium is really that expensive, the amounts necessary must be very small.  I say this because John listed the materials cost per cell as $0.50 to $1.00.  There is no way these cells are 50% germanium.  It is probably added as a doping agent like in a transistor, in more reasonable percentages.  Also, AbbaRue mentioned it was powdered germanium, not one of the salts.  I think that is right, considering many of the germanium salts do not play nice in air at room temp. 

6) So yes, we need to experiment to learn the ratios, etc.  I figured this was a small price to pay for guidance on the materials and high voltage activation, since materials concerns seemed to be the biggest question.

[Koen1]

I agree with your assesment, except for the barium titanate remark,
as H clearly was already working on BaTi variants back in Hiroshima...
But in general you seem to be right.

Thanks again for your effort, it is greatly appreciated!