Three transition metal elements have an inter-connection and cross-identity to a mass of 64 a.m.u. - and to anomalous energy. One of them is volatile.
The LENR triad consists of nickel, zinc and copper. All three can arguably be connected to energy release in the LENR reactions which are labeled as nickel-hydrogen. In the past, theorists like Focardi had suggested that a fusion reaction converted nickel and protons into copper. Fusion with hydrogen is thousands of times less likely than nuclear decay, due to the Coulomb barrier; especially if beta decay can be accelerated by electrostatic changes. Recently 64Zn has entered the picture, having seldom being mentioned before Parkhomovs Sochi results. The isotope is slightly radioactive but is considered observationally stable since its half-life is greater than 10^15 years, but it does have a slight propensity to beta decay by positron emission to 64Cu, the swing element. No one knows the role 64Zn can play, and that is why this post is rather tentative. Had Parkhomov seen radiation, a clearer picture could be framed. OTOH the MFMP experiments where radiation is seen, have negligible excess heat. The jury is still out. Moreover, there is a mundane explanation for the apparent disappearance of what could be 64Zn (which is labeled as 64Ni on pages 14 and 15 in the Sochi translation) - which is not related to a nuclear reaction. Zinc has a boiling point of 907 °C, so that an alloy of nickel and zinc which had a combined 4.4% enrichment of mass-64 at the start of an experiment could lose 2% of the zinc to simple evaporation. This is part of Erics concern about measurement errors. Plus, can we assume that the zinc vapor condenses elsewhere?It would also be possible if not likely that the zinc would sweat from the alloy and recondense on the surface of nickel particles, thereby increasing the percentage over the starting level. In practice, this is what happens with zinc. The actual mechanism could be learned by testing the interior wall of the reactor for condensate. If there is a nuclear decay reaction responsible for the thermal anomaly, then 64Cu is the swing element in the triad - and has a half-life of about 12 hours. It can beta decay by positron emission to 64Ni, or more often by negative beta decay to 64Zn, but mostly by electron capture to 64Ni. There is little residual radioactivity. The positron emission should be detected. Since there is no evidence of that well-known signature doubt is cast on the mechanism being nuclear. One further mechanism involves dense hydrogen. If there is zinc in a nickel alloy particle which sweats out, its absence leaves sub-nano porosity which would allow deep penetration by hydrogen molecules to cavities where they could densify as Cooper pairs. The possibilities for making dense hydrogen in situ are enhanced and this allows several other pathways for gain, including non-nuclear. Holmlid has suggested (by implication, since he really did not detail it per se) that a cycle of densification followed by expansion can release several hundred eV of energy on each pass and this can happen at a high sequential rate. That would be supra-chemical energy which is only possible so long as the net gain comes from outside the system which invokes the zero point field. Given the totality of evidence, and the fact that small gain from nuclear decay or nuclear fusion could happen as a side-effect, it is likely that the bulk of excess heat is not coming from any type of nuclear reaction but from some other route. New physics galore.
