Crystal Power CeLL by John Hutchison

[Koen1]

@AbbaRue: Well, yes, I have tried silica gel but without much success...
I used those dessicant/dehumidifyer pellets that you often get in new
shoe boxes and other stuff, you know, the little paper sachets.
I tried melting them but that didn't work well, so I dumped a bunch
in a blender and ground them up into powder. What was finally left
was a cloud of silica gel dust and a little bit of powder for use,
and when I tried to make a cell with it the powder didn't bind properly
or something like that and the cell material never reached a
solid consistency that was to my liking...
But it might be that you can make a cell with it if you use higher temperatures
and/or a different procedure...
And of course your silica gel might just be slightly different as well, perhaps
it will react differently during the cellmaking process... (many different silica
gel factories in the world with different pollutants and additives)

@all: At present I have a "Hutchison-style" cell curing in my workshop,
will check it soon. It consists of Rochelle salt, about 1g of crushed
pyrite, about 1g of Germanium powder, about 1 to 2 g of Gallium.
Have 24V on it for polarisation, will post measurement results soon.

[Koen1]

Report on the Hutchison style crystal cell I made last week:

Used 3cm diameter, 6cm tall aluminium cylinder as container.
Ingredients:
- 1 to 1,5 tube full of dry Rochelle salt (it decreases in volume when it
melts as well as when water is added, hence more dry salt went in)
- approx 1 gram of crushed Iron Pyrite (was a nice heap on a teaspoon)
- approx 1 gram of pure Germanium powder
- approx 1 to 2 grams of pure Gallium (in liquid state its hard to get an exact
amount scooped up so it's between 1 and 2 grams, I'd guesstimate about 1,5g)

I put the Rochelle salt in the tube and heated it to a good 90 degrees.
As it did melt but only very slowly I added a tiny bit of water (about a teaspoon),
which made the dry salt dissolve a little bit and apparently helped it melt
quite quickly. Let it sit there at 90 degrees for a bit to allow some of the water
to evaporate. Then, when it was still slimey liquid but clearly already starting to
lose much of its water content, I added first the gallium, then the pyrite, and then
the germanium, stirring the mix well. Quite quickly it became a thicker liquid,
and when I removed it fro mthe heater and it began to cool the goo became
increasingly thick and putty-like.
I quickly rigged up the electrode, for which I  chose to use a copper rod, with a
cardboard spacer and wired it to a few batteries intended for the purpose of
polarising the cell. They were a couple of  9V block batteries wired together
to give 24V. Not anywhere near the high voltages John H claims to use,
but since my previous cells don't seem to show much lasting effect of
a higher voltage polarisation at all and the high voltage could lead
to unwanted effects, I decided to go for a low 24V polarisation in this experiment.
I stuck the copper rod into the by now thick paste-like material and
taped the other battery lead to the aluminium container.
The cell was left to cool and "cure" like that for 2 days and nights.

Now yesterday night when I tested the cell I found the central electrode
is a bit loose and I could actually pull it out of the solid material without
any effort, it just slid right out. I was afraid it wouldn't do anything,
and when I tested it it showed a sad 85millivolts at a few tiny microamps.

Disappointed at the apparent failure I shortcircuited the cell with a piece of wire
and left it on the garage workbench to give it one last test today before writing
it off as a failed build.

It just so happens that workbench is in the direct sunlight (when the curtain isn't
closed) and the fresh summery sun shone in the entire morning, warming the table up
quite a bit. Furthermore, there's an oven within a few feet and that was used this
morning, giving off a nice heat to combine with the suns rays already there...
I guess that heat must have melted the material again, or at least partially, because
when I picked up the cell a few hours ago the central electrode does not appear to
be loose anymore, I can no longer pull it out without applying force.
Also, the output has risen to a good 190 millivolts by now. So perhaps worth keeping
an eye on for a while still...

I was planning to take it back to my "lab" and re-melt the thing, then repeat the
polarisation and solidification process... but if this works already I may wait a while
before doing so.

I've taken a pic for you guys. The top view pic does not appear to show the metallic
glitter inside the material very well. When you tap it it sounds and feels like a form
of light plastic or resin. Oh and yes, the electrode shifted off center...

Reactions are always welcome.

Kind regards,
Koen

[Feynman]

That's pretty cool Koen... maybe it is better to let cells cure in the sunlight?

Also, what were the high voltages you were trying before?  What are the highest cells you guys have produced so far and what materials were they using?

[sutra]

KOEN
nice result...
It may be that under the sun the gallium and pyrite had the chance of sinking at the bottom of the cell increasing their concentration down below...may be you should try in increasing the quantity of minerals in the mix...
with Rochelle salt water is a problem...it is VERY hydroscopic and it must be kept sealed and dry.

I wonder if using a longer elecrode would bring any change to the output....and I would also test the cell under the influence of the radio waves produced by a cellphone or something like it....
When my galena will arrive, that's also what I want to establish.

Ciao

[ian middleton]

G'Day all,

@Koen,  I'm very interested how your gallium germainium mix turns out over time.
What if you prepare the pyrites and gallium together (pre mix) as I did with the quartz sand and gallium. A ratio of 20 to 1 pyrites to gallium would be all you'd need. You would then have the makings of multiple junctions before combining with the rest of the ingredients. Just a thought 


If you remember on 16 th April I ran a couple of tests using rochelle salt. One cell contained just  crushed pyrites , liquid RS and aluminium anode and cathode.  That cell has fully crystalized and has a voltage of 0.113V but as always, stuff all current (<10uA).

The other cell was made of a cigar tube, acid washed quartz sand and liquid RS. The copper electrode had to be suspended into the mix for a couple of days while the RS crystalized. As with the first cell , the mix has fully set and suprise suprise has a voltage of 0.352V with no load. However, the short circuit current was 331uA (0.33mA) and it maintained that current for over 5 minutes.
Thereafter the current decreased gradually, not to be unexpexted if there was even the smallest amount of water still in the cell.

As of now the cigar cell has been given a permanent short and has been packed in dessicant. I'll test it again next week.

Well thats the update.

Good luck all

Ian