I'm developing an iron fuel cell/battery that has proven in experiments (done at the local Department of Science and Technology [DOST-CAR] lab with staff witnesses) that seems to fly in the face of what an <<Answers.com>> site claims to be the amount of energy stored per kg (or liter) of iron. The data was 7.4 megajoules per kg (from a table comparing it to such data as MJ/kg or /liter of diesel, coal, and other oxidizeable substances. (To be precise, the data, 7.4MJ, was from iron burned to Fe2O3.) Now, if I use my average watt output per gram per cell I get something like 21MJ/kg. So either wikianswers is wrong, both my testers are wrong, the nrg value is different (because I am not producing Fe2O3), or I don't know how to take readings for continuous amp output.
Assuming it's the latter that's true--how does one use a tester, set on DC amps to get a reading for how many amps are coming out of a cell per hour? This has been a bane on my r&d since the beginning. Someone told me (an electrician) to take the spike reading and use that to calculate watt hours using the normal V reading over time equation. If so, then I can get a maximum of 108MJ/kg which seems impossible because that would put the price of iron energy at about US$ 0.02/kwh... and this seems too good to be true... The problem is that when I leave my tester connected to my test cell the ampere reading drops to zero after less than a minute--but if I just keep touching the tester lead to my negative wire, I get consistent spikes of up to 36mA on my best cells. I've touched and released for a period of minutes, waiting a few seconds between readings and keep getting good spikes but no steady (just a fast-dropping) current.
If I power a device like a motor or bulb, I still won't get an accurate reading because both can work on lower wattages than their specs (yes, slower or dimmer, but how do I know by how much?) Could I use the voltage setting and a resistor to get a steady amp output reading? (BTW I have no way of calculating electrode surface since it may not be a smooth LxW calculation, due to a bumpy surface. What is of most importance though is total watt hours produced per kg fuel consumed, and without a true ampere reading I cant get this...) Any and all help would be greatly appreciated......[If it does require a setup w/ a resistor could you send a diagram to my email, please? I accept attachments...thanks!]