Eric-- I agree with your thought about the role of isomers in the natural abundance of elements. Isomers are what makes nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) a valuable tool. The idea is that a nucleus is excited to an elevated “isomeric” energy state by a RESONANT radio frequency input energy in a magnetic field and then decays back to its initial “ground state'’ or some other ground state not the same as the original state. This decay gives off radiation whose position can be detected from a target nuclei subject to the isomer excitation. (It’s called MRI instead of NRMI to eliminate the thought that a nuclear reaction is involved in the process.)
The final ground state can be influenced by the conditions of the subject nucleus, including the magnetic field strength. It may be that the field orients the nucleus and its constituents such as to favor one or another transitions to the final “ground state”. Those final ground states may be nuclei with a different Z and an entirely different element involving more than electron mass change. I was involved with investigating a process of nuclear transition in the early 80’s that involved quadrapole stimulation of radioactive nuclei with decay to a non-radioactive element. The problem of accomplishing that reaction was obtaining tuned quadruple input that could effectively penetrate the electronic structure of the subject radioactive species and excite the target nucleus to an isomeric state that would then transmute to a stable nucleus. Again the magnetic fields that were available were mundane compared to those in stars. Who knows what the large magnetic fields could do to influence transmutations in plasmas without an electronic cloud to block resonant signals? In addition it is thought that many isomeric states with varying excite energies above the “ground state” exist in nuclei based on the various decay energies observed from radioactive nuclei. Any of these energy states change in an ambient magnetic field if the nucleus has a magnetic moment, which most do. Thus, IMHO, if matching energy transitions from one state to a another with lower potential energy is required to make the desired transition statistically possible, then, by either changing the input energy signal frequency or the magnetic field intensity, such a transition happens. In general changing the overlying magnetic field is easier than tuning a specific resonant quadrapole signal or even dipole signal. In stars and other high energy natural phenomena the available matching resonances may be more likely than is generally suspected. IMHO another issue is the equivalence of all energy as suggested by Einstein. Thus energy associated with magnetic or electric fields, potential energy of nuclei and electrons/positrons, spin energy, gravitational fields etc, may be all converted, one to another form, with the appropriate conditions in space and time. Bob Cook From: Eric Walker Sent: Friday, January 15, 2016 5:06 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Vo]:Nuclear Isomers (2005 article in Nature) The opinion piece says this: Finally, isomers play a significant role in determining the abundances of the elements in the universe. In hot astrophysical environments, an isomeric state can communicate with its ground state through thermal excitations. This could alter significantly the elemental abundances produced in nucleosynthesis. Is anyone able to elaborate on what is being alluded to here? Eric
