[NewCandle] Silver aluminum screening experiment

[Nick Reiter]

Hi Keith,

Such photos as I got are on my camera at work - I will
upload and send a couple your way next week.  They are
not microscope photos, sadly, but decent (maybe 5 or 6
cm distance) closeups.  I am going to try to get some
of the silver onto an SEM stub and get some close ups
that way.  Rinsing and drying, even gently, takes away
the foliated pretty character.

Another thing I noticed was that even with etching of
the Al surface before putting it in the flask, the
silver dendrites began at only a comparative few
distinct nucleation sites.  Maybe 8 or 10 on the
piece.  By chance?  Or maybe micro-gouges where the
native oxide was cracked a bit.

Thanks for clarifying the AlNO3 content.

n

--- Keith Nagel <NewCandleAdmin at ipdiscover.com> wrote:

> Hey Nick,
> 
> Sounds good so far, although I am still a bit fuzzy
> about
> how you are doing the mass measurement ( I need to
> reread your post and think about it some more ).
> 
> As you surmise, as the reaction progresses the ratio
> of Al to Ag in the solution varies, the latter ( as
> aluminum nitrate ) growing while the former
> decreases.
> 
> The amount of aluminum nitrate in the original
> provided
> solution was huge, about 15 percent of the total
> solution.
> The silver in solution was small, .05% or less.
> Hence the
> large time scales for the displacement reaction.
> Typical
> reaction times were on the order of 1 year. If there
> is any magic here, it is in that long tail at dilute
> silver
> concentrations.
> 
> Here's an additional thought. As the displacement
> reaction
> occurs, H2 is generated and will escape the vessel.
> Beware
> of that if you are measuring overall mass of the
> solution.
> It isn't noticeable at these low rates, but you will
> see a decrease in the overall mass as the reaction
> progresses
> due to loss of H2.
> 
> Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the
> micrograph of the
> aluminum. Those silver dendrites are incredibly
> beautiful.
> 
> K. 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: newcandle-bounces at ipdiscover.com
> [mailto:newcandle-bounces at ipdiscover.com]On Behalf
> Of Nick Reiter
> Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 10:34 AM
> To: New energy for the new world.
> Subject: [NewCandle] Silver aluminum screening
> experiment
> 
> 
> Hi Keith and all,
> 
> As I reported a couple of days ago, I had a small
> piece of Keith's aluminum alloy strip in a
> volumetric
> flask undergoing the Ag-Al exchange reaction, as a
> precursor or screening experiment.  The objective
> here
> was three-fold:
> 
> 1.  Get an idea of the rate of reaction with Al of
> that particular alloy, at room temperature.
> 
> 2.  Get an idea of the effectiveness of the ionic
> exchange.
> 
> 3.  Get an idea about how effective the overall
> protocol was... if a piece of aluminum undergoing
> some
> very slow transmutation anomaly produces extra
> silver,
> how confident can we be in our protocol to observe
> this clearly, if it would occur.
> 
> The growth of silver dendrites in the weak AgNO3:H2O
> solution on Keith's metal occured.  In 24 hours, it
> appeared to the eye that no further growth was
> occuring.  At T+30 hours, the liquor from the flask
> was decanted, the metal and dendritic silver was
> gently irrigated as a rinse, drained out again, and
> the system was dried on a hotplate at 120C.  When
> cool, I re-weighed the flask system.
> 
> By calculation, there should have been 43.4
> milligrams
> of Ag available for exchange, and thus dendritic
> deposition.  This equalled 4.02336E-4 moles of
> silver.
>  If we consider the exchange of Ag for Al, then the
> weight of Al placed into solution (and decanted off)
> should have been 10.9 mg.  Thus, if the exchange was
> 100% effective in 30 hours of time, then the flask
> system when re-weighed should mass out at 32.5 mg
> more
> than original.
> 
> Our measured final weight of the flask was 26.0 mg
> greater than start.  Therefore, one could say that
> for
> all losses involved, in 30 hours, the exchange of Ag
> for Al was about 80% effective.
> 
> This gives me some decent confidence that we can
> mass-out and track the long term transmutation
> experiment described by Keith, with some decent
> confidence.  if we make extra silver, we will know
> it.
>  The remaining unknown for the test is the degree
> with
> which the reaction of the "seed" silver will be
> attenuated by the AlNO3 already added intentionally.
> 
> OK last call for some starting parameters.  I
> propose
> a seed amount of AgNO3 that would be adequate to
> salt
> the Al surface with some Ag over time, but not be
> enough to constitute >1mg of weight to the final
> system.
> 
> Now, for the concentration of AlNO3 to start with...
> Keith, any vague notes or recollections from your
> end?
>  Was your old colleague starting with something
> pretty
> strong, or just a whiff?
> 
> nr
> 
> The Holy Grail 'neath ancient Roslin waits.
> The blade and chalice guarding o'er Her gates. 
> Adorned in the masters' loving art, She lies;
> She rests at last beneath the starry skies.
> 
> 
>       
> 
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The Holy Grail 'neath ancient Roslin waits.
The blade and chalice guarding o'er Her gates. 
Adorned in the masters' loving art, She lies;
She rests at last beneath the starry skies.