Da Phys on ECW asked the following question.

I admit that I don't understand your sentence "It appears the reaction has not progressed beyond Fe which is unsurprising given the amount of Mn still available." I don't understand why this would be unsurprising given that Kanthal has much more Fe than Cr. Do you suggest that the reaction is somewhat selective and would privilege Cr over Fe? Can you elaborate on that?

The clarification behind the phrase would first rely on the data observed in the field. The most important is that 11 out of 16 labs that were surveyed in 2009 by George Miley had found Fe. In addition, we found it in NOVA and Hutchison samples and many groups have observed it in George Ohsawa experiments - so it appears to be the easiest metal to observe in LENR which means that it is highly favourable to synthesis. Given its position in the energy per nucleon /stability / atomic volume, then any system trying to pack more into a small box would favour its production.

Therefore, the hypothesis is that whilst there is any significant Mn (or Cr) available then nucleon re-packing would favour that element moving towards Fe. To move from Fe is only energetically favourable if say a deuteron or alpha particle is re-packed with the Fe, but even still, if there is any Mn (or Cr) it would favour re-packing with them first. In addition 4 labs surveyed by Miley observed the production of Mn, and Vysotskii and Korlinova specifically observed Mn>Fe so this path is not without precedent.

Once ALL of the nucleons are Fe, then, if there were more D atoms available, the hypothesis would permit progression from Fe through Co to Ni>Cu>Zn

Since there is potentially a little Cr left and plenty Mn, much more atomic volume efficiency can be gained by moving to Fe. In these steps, there is no requirement for EC or proton ejection to establish stable atomic nuclei, which makes it highly desirable from a safety stance.

It is suggested that the traces of Cu and W in the samples below certainty, could be due to progression from Fe - say with the addition of an Alpha in the first case or re-packing in the second. Since W lines can be confused for Si in EDS, this would need analysis by WDS or Mass spectrometry to confirm however it is unlikely as it would suggest that the packing jumped an atomic volume well.