In reply to Axil Axil's message of Wed, 17 Jul 2019 17:08:50 -0400: Hi, [snip] >So fusion only occurs infrequently. But why then is there NEVER any >neutrons detected? Why are the the transmutation produces ALWAYS stable?
1) There are occasionally a few neutrons detected. Try searching for neutrons on LENR-CANR. However I suspect that most of the nuclear reactions that occur are probably neutron transfer reactions, which by definition don't produce free neutrons. 2) The reaction products are not always stable, see early paper by Tom Passel (sp?). The sort of nuclear reaction one gets (if any) would depend on the reactants used. Furthermore, nature prefers to create stable nuclei whenever possible, because the nuclear force packs the nucleons as densely as it can, resulting in a minimum energy nucleus, which by definition is stable. Therefore, given a choice of multiple reaction pathways, those that produce stable nuclei are more likely to be taken. Note that with fission reactions of heavy nuclei (U, Pu etc.) this is nearly impossible, due to an excess of neutrons. However one might expect that a neutron transfer reaction starting out from D might sometimes produce radioactive nuclei, e.g. D + Ni58 => H + Ni59 which is a medium long half-life beta emitter. Though also possible is D2 (shrunken molecule) + Ni58 => Ni60 + H2. (double neutron transfer). Regards, Robin van Spaandonk local asymmetry = temporary success
