[expatpat]

Thanks. The zirconia is full of oxygen, of course, and hydrogen can cause reduction with the right conditions (heat is supplied and there is supposedly a catalyst (the nickel powder?)) The hydrogen/oxygen reaction is quite exothermic, of course.

The amount of hydrogen available is an issue, but in addition to the free hydrogen there is probably also a very large quantity of hydrogen adsorbed on the extremely large surface area of the nanopowder, before the disconnection.

This is why the experiment, which seems quite primitive to me, needs to be repeated objectively in a more sophisticated laboratory, with careful measurement of the amounts of materials present, and experiments devised to see the effect of changes in those amounts.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Thanks. The zirconia is full of oxygen, of course, and hydrogen can cause reduction with the right conditions (heat is supplied and there is supposedly a catalyst (the nickel powder?)) The hydrogen/oxygen reaction is quite exothermic, of course."

Yes, but the problem with your scenario is that zirconium oxide is a VERY STABLE compound. Hydrogen doesn't react with it under any conditions I know about, and certainly not at the low temperatures in the E-Cat. You may be confusing the situation with zirconium METAL (used as fuel rod cladding in nuclear reactors), but it goes the other way....at high temps, in the presence of water, the reaction MAKES hydrogen and forms zirconium oxide.

"The amount of hydrogen available is an issue, but in addition to the free hydrogen there is probably also a very large quantity of hydrogen adsorbed on the extremely large surface area of the nanopowder, before the disconnection.

Nope. They determine the hydrogen loading by weighing the cylinder before and after. Doesn't matter if the hydrogen is free or "on the surface of the nanopowder". The total amount is known. And it's only a few grams.

FYI....I'm a chemist.