Eisboch wrote:
"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...

Be careful here. The laws of physics and mathematics preclude the
possibility of generating more than 3413 BTU/hr per kilowatt. The
only exception is if heat is moved from one place to another in the
process, for example, a heat pump.



That's why the results of the tests were so bizarre.
What I was doing was heating an object of a certain mass.
When heating it with conventional means (or those used for the
state-of-the-art at the time)
the time required to heat the object ..... in this case to 200 degrees C.
took many, many times longer when compared to the plasma configuration,
using roughly the same amount of input power. I'll have to review the notes
to get the actual numbers.

I don't profess to understand what is going on, except for the facts that
this occurs in a vacuum, under a partial pressure. Argon gas molecules are
energized to an ionized (plasma) state within a confined space and are used
to bombard the object, using a 400 - 500 volt DC potential difference. In
some cases, I actually was able to begin to melt (actually evaporate or
sublimate) the aluminum object in very short order, something that never
occurred with the other means of heating. It's not dis-similar to a
process called "sputtering", but you don't apply enough power to knock atoms
of material off of the object (target).

I am purposely leaving out a significant detail of the configuration, for
selfish reasons.

I read one scientific paper that talked about the same type of phenomena.
The patent attorney found it and gave it to me to read. If I recall
correctly, the author, in his summary (which is really all I could
understand) acknowledged that he didn't have a clue either, other than it
didn't appear to follow accepted thermodynamics laws and he (as others have
done) theorized on a new state of matter. Not a gas, not a solid, not a
liquid.

All this occurred in 1983 or thereabouts.

Eisboch





It is all magic to me. X rays, laser, even those space heaters that heat
people but not air. But you already knew that.