Making Iron in 10kV Electrolysis

27Al + 27Al > 54Fe + 21.8426 MeV ?

Exploded Domes

Figure 1, the elevation map of my exploded Iron crater

Above is an elevation map of an Aluminum+Magnesium alloy that was subjected to 10kV electrolysis. The deionized water had K-Cl to carry the current.

Figure 2, the green line drawn through the elevation map

These craters are very common on the electrodes. They are several micrometers across and also several micrometers deep.

Figure 3, the elevation map of the line drawn through the exploded Iron crater

Figure 4, the “debris field” surrounding the exploded Iron crater

A debris field is very common. Below is a wider field of view of such craters. Some are less than 1.0 micrometers.

Figure 5, showing several exploded Iron craters. See also an un-exploded cap in the lower right - they are always bright in the SEM.

Half the time the domes have not exploded. In the image above, in the lower right, you see a very bright spot. This is a dome, which I will come back to later.

The elemental analysis of the exploded domes is very consistent. Below is a common analysis of the bright spot at the bottom of the crater. Remember, the base alloy is Al-Mg; I have never seen any Fe while hunting around the electrode before electrolysis.

Figure 6, analysis of crater center

The other walls of the craters are just the base metal oxidized: Al+Mg+O

The debris field contains Carbon, see below. I consider these to be the dome that was exploded, and we are looking at the inside of the dome surface.

Figure 7, analysis of “debris field” from exploded cap

The un-exploded domes generally look like this:

Figure 8, un-exploded crater cap

Before and After Drawings

After analyzing several dozen of these, I have made the following: Before the changes wrought by the electricity, we have the Al-Mg alloy bounded by the H2O + K-Cl.

Figure 9, cartoon of the components before transformations

Afterwards we have a raised dome and a sunken crater. The Iron has formed at the bottom of the crater. The Carbon has formed inside the dome.

Figure 10, cartoon of the crater formed through transformation

What are the likely nuclear rearrangements, and how much energy is produced?

Going to the Parkhomov tables at https://www.nanosoft.co.nz/

First look at just 27Al + 27Al → 54Fe + 22MeV

I estimate that the iron bottom to the crater, seen in Figures 1-4, is 3 cubic micrometers. Using the density of Iron 7,874 kg/m3, and Avogadro’s number with Iron’s atomic weight of 55.8 g/mole, I estimate there are 1.4 E13 Iron atoms in the 3 cubic micrometers at the bottom of the crater. At 22 MeV per atom formation, that comes to 48 Joules per crater.

we can put as inputs ['K', 'Cl', 'Mg', 'Al' ], and look at all exothermic outputs. Interesting that the first two re-arrangements are

Mg25 + Cl35 → He4 + Fe56 + 16MeV

Mg25 + Cl37 → He4 + Fe58 + 14.8MeV

What about the Carbon? There are several re-arrangements that produce Carbon

Mg25 + K41 → C12 + Fe54 + 6.5MeV

Al27 + K41 → C12 + Fe56 + 7.9MeV

My concern is that there are plenty of reactions that produce other metals: Cr, Mn, Ti. Why do I not see those? Much more to do. Stay tuned.