I wrote: This is the typical energy of a particle that is expelled from a nucleus. > That suggests that the hydrogen anion would have to attain nuclear > separations, e.g., ~ 1 fm. >
In addition, there is an interesting calculation that can be done which gives the maximum charge density that will allow electrons to continue to be bound to the proton. I suspect the electron density around the Ni atom will be sufficient to unbind the electrons. My hunch is that Piantelli is trying to be minimalistic in his description, but has not been minimalistic enough. As a result he is including some unwarranted assumptions. This is not at all to say that he's not seeing evidence of fast protons or transmutations or excess heat. Eric
