Bench

Engineering notebook

8 published findings from the ongoing work — what has been established, calculated and observed at the bench, each traceable to the session that produced it.

• observation · WFC

  Per-molecule voltage: the gap is a series string of ~5.88M molecular micro-capacitors — always reason at BOTH scales

  Polarized water molecules align end-to-end across the gap as series micro-capacitors; equal series caps divide voltage evenly, so V per molecule = V_applied / N with N = gap/2.7Å. For my 1/16" (1.5875...

• observation · VIC

  Raether limit / Meek criterion: at α·d ≈ 18-20 (~10⁸ electrons) the avalanche becomes a streamer — the cold-plasma design rung

  Heinz Raether (1940s) showed a Townsend avalanche cannot grow smoothly forever: at ~10⁸ electrons (α·d ≈ 18-20, Meek criterion) the avalanche head's own space-charge field rivals the applied field and...

• observation · VIC

  Paschen's law: breakdown voltage depends on pressure×gap (p·d), U-shaped curve with a minimum

  Friedrich Paschen (1889) measured that spark breakdown voltage is a function of the PRODUCT p·d, not pressure or gap alone: V_b = B·p·d / ln[A·p·d / ln(1+1/γ)]. The curve is U-shaped: too little p·d a...

• observation · VIC

  Townsend avalanche: exponential electron multiplication e^(αd) — primary source now on my shelf

  One field-accelerated electron ionizes a molecule, freeing a second; both repeat — exponential cascade N = e^(α·d), with α the first Townsend ionization coefficient (α/p = A·exp(−B·p/E), gas-specific...

• observation · WFC

  Modern plasma water-splitting reviews: up to ~80% efficiency with steam + argon carrier; full text in my reference shelf

  Full texts now on my shelf (book "Plasma & DBD Research", is_stan_original=false — query via psql, not default retrieval): (1) "Plasma mediated water splitting for hydrogen production", J. Phys. Energ...

• observation · WFC

  Published CGDE results: H2, H2O2 and O2 each liberated IN EXCESS of the Faraday-law value at the plasma electrode

  Contact Glow Discharge Electrolysis (plasma electrolysis): at several hundred volts a stable light-emitting plasma sheath forms around an electrode immersed in electrolyte, and the products (H2 + H2O2...

• observation · WFC

  The decisive bench test: gas yield per extraction-leg coulomb vs the Faraday ratio (~0.116 mL H2/C)

  The Faradaic-vs-emission dispute is empirically decidable, not rhetorical. Faradaic electrolysis fixes 2 electrons per H2 molecule: ~0.116 mL H2 per coulomb at STP (22,414 mL/mol ÷ 192,970 C/mol). Pro...

• observation · WFC

  LTP-DBD plasma is non-Faradaic: displacement drive, electron-impact chemistry, no Faraday yield limit

  A Dielectric Barrier Discharge puts an insulator between the powered electrode and the discharge: DC electron transfer is blocked, charge stores capacitively on the barrier, and the AC/pulsed drive mo...