This post is about an important LENR candidate - and is meant to serve
as a place-marker for future additions. It concerns the isotope of
magnesium 25Mg, which is 10% of natural, called "magnetic magnesium"
because of its nuclear spin and NMR properties. This isotope has come up
before but AFAIK, no one is working with it now.
The remainder of elemental magnesium, which is ~90% (24Mg and 26Mg) has
zero nuclear spin or magnetic moment, making 25Mg easy to enrich from
the chloride salt. 25Mg has high spin (5/2) and magnetic moment, which
are of interest in biology, since magnesium is necessary for life.
In the event that Hagelstein and W-L are accurate about "neutron
hopping" this isotope becomes not only relevant but possibly a
singularity in being the only practical isotope which can work because
of its magnetic properties and ease of enrichment. Hagelstein has
described a neutron tunneling reaction where neutrons seem to "hop"
between nuclei, but always remain in a semi-bound state. Thus they are
never free neutrons, and do not activate the surroundings. The neutron
itself has a magnetic moment which is about twice that of 25Mg and this
feature would be required for "magnetic tunneling" which is an added
twist, so to speak, to the predecessor theories.
Note: The influence of the neutron's magnetic moment is only apparent
for for slow neutrons. Since the magnetic moment of the orbiting
electron is 1000 times larger than that of a neutron, this kind of
"hopping" probably only works in a very strong magnetic field alignment
with a cold reactant. Thus the engineering problem.
Back in 2014 - Robin posted on the energy aspects of this reaction, in
the context of Hagelstein tunneling:
25Mg + 25Mg => 26Mg + 24Mg + 3.763 MeV
"Furthermore the energy is divided over two nuclei of almost equal mass,
hence
each gets about half (1.9 MeV), so this could be a very clean reaction."
These hot ions would limit the continuity of the system if thermalized
locally. The practical problem is to capture the energy elsewhere and
avoid the heat locally. This could be accomplished with a thin tube of
25Mg in a magnetic solenoid where the ions are immediately trapped in an
axial field and ported away from the reactant.
The magnetic aspect of the single magnesium isotope in neutron hopping
was overlooked before now. However, it could be the most important
detail for LENR since it provides a binding coupling which encourages
neutron tunneling between larger nuclei. This will necessitate some
revision of the underlying theory, perhaps, and can be called "magnetic
tunneling" but it fits in with other emerging details about "magnetic
magnesium".
Fortunately magnesium is the fourth most common element on earth and can
be removed from sea water as an a ion which can be enriched at the same
time it is being removed. The cost should be reasonable (for an enriched
isotope), but natural magnesium probably will not work since the
magnetic proportion is too small.
More on this topic later.
Ref in Vortex archive for Robin's thread:
https://www.mail-archive.com/vortex-l@eskimo.com/msg98660.html
Jones
