MFMP Glowstick Test Provides Hope of Excess Heat Detection from LENR — What Next? [Update: Raw Data Files Now Available]

The 47-hour live test by the Martin Fleschmann Memorial Project on their Glowstick reactor has got a lot of attention, and after 700+ comments on the live thread here, I thought we could have a new thread for wrap-up and reflection.

We are left with some intriguing results, which I don’t think can yet be considered conclusive, but the interesting divergence between the fueled and unfueled reactors — which increased over time — certainly provides a hope that there was excess heat produced in this test. My understanding is that the testing is not actually over, because a post-test calibration run is planned where there will be a run with the hydrogen removed from the fueled reactor.

The data from that post-test will be as important as the data from the fueled test. If the now unfueled reactor acts very differently from when it had fuel in it, then that will be a bigger indication that there was an LENR event taking place yesterday. Also, Bob Greenyer has said that fuel from the reactor will be sent of for isotopic analysis which should provide very useful information.

I think that Live Open Science has worked very well so far in this test. There has been a lot of engagement between observers and experimenters which has made this an exciting collaborative experience, and I think this bodes well for the future testing. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm out there — no doubt sparked by the hope of positive results, and I think this will spark more interest and participation in the future.

If this test turns out to show positive results then it will give experimenters and base to build from. What would come next? Since the test maxed out at around 830C (external reactor temperature), I think there will be attempts to move the temperatures even higher. Andrea Rossi has said that with the E-Cat, COP increases as temperatures increase. I also think there will be interest in trying the same kind of test with lower pressures. We were at over 22 bar when this test ended, and I think it would be interesting to see what would have happened if the pressure was much lower, as in Parkhomov’s testing, and also in the recently published test by Songsheng Jiang. People could try different fuel amounts, different sizes of nickel and LAH grains, different amounts of empty space inside the reactor, etc. The variations that could be tried are probably infinite.

But I think getting a positive test is the important thing here. When Orville Wright flew for just 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk in 1903, it didn’t change transportation right away, but it served as evidence that manned flight was possible, and that was what mattered. I think that’s all the community needs to get open LENR experimentation really off the ground. I think it is wise to be cautious about making conclusions about this test — which is not really over yet — but I think there is cause for hope. Thanks to Alan, Skip and the MFMP team for setting this test up. And thanks for the contributions of so many who provided valuable feedback and data. It was very interesting to observe, and I look forward to more!

UPDATE: Alan Goldwater just posted the following regarding data files from the recent MFMP test:

The data files are now available in a public archive at:
http://tinyurl.com/o8kuxxc

The large “raw” files are in five segments of 12 hours (x4) and 4 hours. All are .csv format and can be copied and downloaded. The geiger counter data will be uploaded later today. The gamma spectrometer files need processing to remove background level, and will be added tomorrow.

AlanG