Crystal Power CeLL by John Hutchison

[Feynman]

It's nice to see you guys have been able to do some experiments. I have been shopping for germanium with little luck . . . In any case, I have done a quick comparison of Ian's latest cell to Sutra's latest cell, since they have similar reagents but different results.

Ian:
1.5 tsp rochelle salt
1 tsp gallium coated sand
1 tsp iron pyrites

Sutra;
2 gr rochelle salt
1 gr sand
0.5 gr al dust
0.2 gr hematite
0.2 gr graphite


@Ian: Based on this data, I think you want to use more rochelle salt and perhaps less pyrites.   Also, regarding the gallium on the sand...
Gallium has electron configuration [Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p1
Aluminum has electron configuration [Ne] 3s2 3p1
Germanium has electron configuration [Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p2

So it seems gallium's chemistry should be closer to aluminum than to germanium based on the valence electrons.  What do you think about adding graphite?

@sutra, How many amps did you jolt through it at 600V?!!   

[hartiberlin]

@Sutra,
well done,
well, maybe you just apply a high voltage source like 10 Kilovolts DC for as
long as 1 hour until the mix has then cooled down completely.
This is the way I understand the electrets have to be made.

@Feymann, he wrote
0.250mA , so it is 250 mikroAmperes.
Still not bad for such s small cell.
If you would take a coke can size you would probably get a factor 100 to 1000
more current...
Well done.
Regards, Stefan.

[Feynman]

Ah okay, thanks Stefan.  That makes a lot more sense.  I agree, this is still a really good amount of energy.

@sutra
After you do some measurements, try shorting out the cell and see if you get heat, and if it runs down the output energy.

[ian middleton]

G,day all,

@Feynman: I agree, I think more rochelle salt is the go. I'm leaving graphite out of the equation for the time being because I want to characterize  the effects of Al,Ga and Cu,Ga boundaries.
In this last cell neither the Aluminium cathode or the copper anode was treated in any way save for a good clean prior to the mix being added.

The gallium coated sand was to become one plate and the pyrites the other. In this case the gallium is only being used as a micro metallic surface and not for it's semi conductor properties.

There is however a problem when using rochelle salt.  When heated it becomes very fluid and this allows the more denser components like the pyrites and sand to settle at the bottom of the cell.
While constant mixing helps to combine these ingredients there comes a point where settling occours and results in an uneven mix.  My original theory was to use just enough salt to form a matrix without producing a pool of liquid salt at the top end of the cell.

The plan now is to build another cell using more salt and possibly galeana ( when I can get some ) and use a small quantiy of Bentonite clay as a binder. The clay itself is a phylosilicate and is loaded with platelets in the 0.5 to 1.0 micron range.  I need to see how the dry clay powder combines with the liquid salt.

Anyway as for the cell I built yesterday, it crashed.
I hooked the cell up to the data logger to monitor it overnight. At the start it was chugging along at 0.331V, then after 5 hours the voltage collapsed tp 0.07V in a matter of 3 seconds. So something in the cell rapidly changed. For the rest of the night the voltage remaind stable @ 70mV.

I took the cell off the logger and for the last 2 hours the cell has been shunted by the AVO 8 on the 50uA range. The output has remained stable at 70mV @ 24uA. I will leave it in this configuration for the rest of the day or until it dies completely.

@ Sutra:  The Al tubes I roll myself from thick aluminium flashing. Makes life sooooo much easier.

I'll be back later with an update on the salt cell.

Catch yer

Ian

[ian middleton]

G'day all,

I need to make a correction. The rochelle cell made yesterday and is currently shunted by the AVO 8
is sitting at 47.7 mV and not 70 mV like I reported before. The 70mV is from the sulphur cell.

I hope that little goof up has not ruined anybodies weekend. 

The bentonite cell has just been built and is being tested. Looks interesting 

See yer later

Ian