On Jul 30, 2007, at 4:26 AM, Michel Jullian wrote:
Thanks Horace for the explanations, it seems to me "higher electron
density = higher probability of electron screening" is what they
boil down to, which makes sense, let me know if I am excessively
oversimplifying (BTW I still think that "electron screening"
adequately describes the generic concept of getting one or several
electrons in between deuterons or protons to screen their mutual
repulsion and get them into fusing distance, if you don't like it
please propose a better generic expression and I'll adopt it)
OK, I see you are right about needing a term to distinguish and
define the proposed process. The best I can come up with is "electron
deflation fusion catalysis", EDFC, or better just "deflation fusion".
Electron screening has two other meanings, as far as I know.
One type of screening is the effect of the distribution of charge in
the electron wave functions of orbital electrons. This distribution
of charge of a single orbital electron is over a large volume,
compared to nuclear distances, thus this screening is very tenuous,
and requires long tunneling distances of the hydrogen nucleus to
achieve fusion.
Another kind of electron screening can occur when all (actually only
"most" because the wave function of a free electron is infinite in
size) of the wave function of one or two free electrons gets between
two hydrogen nuclei. This can only happen if the bulk of the wave
function is small, thus the de Broglie wavelength small, thus the
momentum and energy of the electron(s) high. This happens with great
frequency only in very hot dense environments. It might be possible
to engineer this kind of screening though.
The third kind of screening, that to which I refer when talking about
electron fugacity, I think is not really screening at all. It is wave
function collapse - a term which has meaning I suppose only depending
on the quantum interpretation invoked. Regardless, I think this is a
very real phenomenon. Consider the electron capture reaction. An
electron with a wave function covering a volume thousands of times
that of a nucleus suddenly becomes part of the nucleus. Similarly, in
the photoelectric effect, a photon from across the universe, having a
wave function of very large size, collapses its energy onto one tiny
electron on one atom to eject it from its orbital. Similarly, an
electron on one side of a Josephson junction has a wave function that
extends to the other side of the junction with only a small (integral
of the volume) probability. Yet, when it tunnels across, it has a
newly centered (center of mass) wave function having only a small
probability of being where it was on the other side. These are
examples of wave function collapse, where a formerly voluminous wave
function can suddenly change both location and volume dramatically.
This wave function collapse can happen and in fact happens when it is
energetically favorable. In deflation fusion the wave functions of
the electron and two hydrogen nuclei momentarily collapse into a
small volume, their centers of mass being co-located. At this point
weak and/or strong nuclear reactions may occur. I think this is very
different from a screening process. The key ingredient to making this
occur is stressing the electron wave function so as to make its
collapse with two nearby nuclei energetically favorable. Note that
such a collapse upon a single nucleus, followed by the likely zero
point field electron wave function expansion, is much more likely but
would be an unnoticed event, an event without any "ash".
My initial aim was more at explanation, but if the principle applies
then the engineering becomes comparatively simple. Make the cell,
especially the cathode, extremely negative.
A few comments on this:
1/ You mean extremely negatively charged I imagine, an extremely
negative electric potential being meaningless if you don't say
relative to what.
This is where the term "electron fugacity" instead of "potential" has
usefulness. I mean relative to the potential of any material having
a neutral charge balance, one positive for every negative charge. In
practical terms this means ground. It is significant, however, that
ground electron fugacity varies a great deal, and thus ground
electron fugacity may in fact affect whether cold fusion experiments
work or not. I assume by "high potential" that a potential is
reached that guarantees a high electron fugacity.
2/ Macroscopically speaking only the surface of a conductor can be
charged, the inside is neutral.
The keyword is "conductor". As the conduction bands are filled with
charge, and become immobilized at the surface a conductor can stop
being a conductor at the surface. In this case electrons can build up
in and fill conduction bands just beneath the surface. This actually
causes the orbitals to bulge out into space above the surface, and
with a enough potential the probability of electrons tunneling out
into space away from the metal becomes large.
3/ There is a limit to the charge you can accumulate at the surface
of a metal (by imposing an electric field, no other way is there?),
beyond which the electric field pulls the electrons out of the metal.
Kindly let me know (*) if you agree with the 3 points above.
Generally speaking yes, but with the minor yet significant
distinctions noted.
Michel
(*) concisely if possible (these days the length of your posts
beats even Jones, pity for the French among us ;-)
Sorry for the wordiness! I will soon have to get back to mundane
things, so I won't have time to be wordy. I have used this venture
into the fun world of ideas as an excuse to procrastinate.
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
