In a previous post I raised the question of whether or not excess
electrical
energy could be obtained via a sparkgap.
The consensus, based on published research was a resounding 'no'.
However, whilst ferreting about I came across what appears to be
'considerable' material from highly respected institutions that claims
otherwise.
E.g..
"Liberation of chemical energy in pulsed high current arcs in liquids and
gases
Graneau, N.
Dept. of Eng. Sci., Oxford Univ.
This paper appears in: Pulsed Power 2000 (Digest No. 2000/053), IEE
Symposium
Publication Date: 2000
On page(s): 19/1-19/4
Meeting Date: 05/03/2000 - 05/04/2000
Location: London, UK
References Cited: 7
INSPEC Accession Number: 6623248
Date Published in Issue: 2002-08-06 23:27:03.0
"
[quote]
Abstract
High current pulsed arcs in both water and air, are able to liberate
chemical energy from the arc medium which can be recovered in either
mechanical or electrical form. Despite the high currents, the arc is
relatively cold which apparently makes this a highly efficient mechanism
for
liberating stored chemical energy and therefore a possible future energy
source. In the case of water, hydrogen bonds are broken in order to create
the observed small fog droplets. The energetics of small droplet bonding
requires that the remaining hydrogen bonds will be expected to drop into
lower energy configurations than in bulk water and thus the transition to
droplets can release a large amount of chemically stored energy. Similarly
in air, arcs break covalent bonds which are also a source of stored
chemical
energy. It appears that more mechanical energy is liberated in the water
arcs for a particular discharge energy. However the lower mass and
consequent higher velocities of the end products of the air arc explosion
probably explain why the these arcs are more suited to direct conversion
to
electrical energy
[/quote]
I've taken particular note of "the transition to droplets can release a
large amount of chemically stored energy"
This is of course energy that can be accounted for. So too that released
in
air via broken valence bonds.
I also took note of the required "kiloampere current" which is sort of
outside the definition of "sparkgap" I guess.
Comments?
Vince
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