This is a repost of a message sent Sunday, which did not make it to the
archives. For some reason some messages sent on the weekend do not get into the
archives. I am writing a second part to the message below, which may seem a
little too flippant to be serious. But is does have a serious underpinning, and
a least the next message will provide a way to falsify the concept. Original
message:
Imagine a somber kyrie eleison in the background ... combined with
Pastor Rod turning on a flickering TV rerun - and flashback 42 years as
he takes the pulpit. Yes former trekkies, Gene Roddenberry's original goes all
the way back to 1966!
More
than a few vorticians were, once-upon-a-time or in a recent past-life,
of the "SciFi persuasion"; and probably already realize by now, decades
later, that many of the fictional plot elements indelibly imprinted in
the psyche back then are still pretty good metaphors for "real life".
So
good in fact, that I am trying not to divert this post into the larger
subject of "what is real?" and also trying not to divert into
theology... since by religiously watching and appreciating this
metaphorical television series, even from the reruns of Star Trek,
many young minds have gained a much better appreciation, decades later,
for yes, heresy-of-heresie: "the Bible as metaphor" for helping
to understand the complexities of life... i.e. only coming from a much older
"technology base" as it were.
Had to sneak in that last observation
this morning, as part of this "sermonette" -- since it is obvious from
the time-stamp that I am not 'worshiping' in the traditional sense..
Anyway, this message is devoted to the real "dilithium" (Dt) -- which as former
trekkies know was used to power the Warp Drive by manipulating antimatter. In
the original series, dilithium crystals
occurred naturally and could not be replicated, despite all the other
routine miracles at Scotty's disposal. In Star Trek IV,
Spock discovers a method of "re-crystallizing" the spent fuel by using
an antique fission reactor LOL. This technique was not used earlier because
fission reactors had long been replaced by cleaner technology, and
presumably were all buried under Nevada.
For those into 'trivial pursuits': dilithium's chemical symbol is Dt and its
atomic weight is 87 but we do not know its atomic number since it is
presumably, as a member of the "hypersonic" series of
elements, not a real element at all- but a hybrid nucleus perhaps (that
was never explained very well).
It is worth noting that
strontium, a prime hydrino catalyst - has an isotope 87-Sr (7% of
natural). It is also worth noting for the following "takeoff" on
dilithium in today's sermonette (to be flashed-out more thoroughly in a
later posting)- that there is a possibility of 'quasi-bosons' i.e. of
"paired" real lithium-6 (think: dilithium !) producing energy in an
unusual way.
Wouldn't that be a hoot, if it were accurate? Life is stranger than fiction.
Of course the atomic mass of 87 cannot be bosonic, but that is one of the
quaint differences for our parallel universe - the kind of difference which
makes Star Trek only a good metaphor for
what might prove to be real some day in a slightly different
incarnation. The version of dilithium which will be hypothesized today
(and you will hear it no place else, thankfully) will be bosonic,
spintronic, excitonic - and will have a composite atomic mass of 72 (to
be fully explained).
In particle physics,
bosons are particles which obey Bose-Einstein statistics; and in
contrast to the fermions like 87Sr, several bosons can occupy the same quantum
state and even the *same space* in theory. This bosonic state is fully
associated with *energy carriers* - while the fermionic state is not - and that
last trait is an important feature for alternative energy in general - and
probably is a factor in cold fusion (as many have noted) since even a temporary
boson (nanosecond lifetime) can possibly connect to the Dirac sea.
All
observed bosons have integer spin at some level, as opposed to
fermions, which have half-integer spin. Bosons may be either
elementary, like the photon, or composite, like mesons- and far
beyond in complexity- up to at least the level of multiples of atoms.
The most important feature is that bosons with the exact same energy level,
even if it transitory and statistical, can occupy the same locale in 3-space,
and superimpose. They do
not necessarily need to be "cold" to do this - but getting them to the
same energy level is far easier when they are very cold.
Photons are
"elementary bosons" but elements which are bosons are not "elementary bosons"!
- but instead these are composite
particles (such as hadrons, nuclei, and atoms) which can be bosons or
fermions depending on their totality of constituents, and the pairing of those
constituents (primarily to achieve an integer of spin). The added complexity of
course makes it harder to get them all into the same energy state.
Because
of the relationship between spin and Bose statistics, a particle
containing an even number of fermions can be a boson, since it has
integer spin. Examples include:
* A meson, which contains two fermionic quarks
* The nucleus of a carbon-12 which contains 6 protons and 6 neutrons (all
fermions) and is therefore a boson;
* The atom helium-4 (4He) is made of 2 protons, 2 neutrons and 2 electrons
and is therefore a boson.
OK,
does that definition absolutely eliminate lithium 6 ? Scotty asked in
Trek-academy, since
it has three electrons making it a bosonic nucleus with a fermionic
shell ?
Spock answers unequivocally: "Yes and no". Which is both
correct and unequivocal - one of Spock's more interesting traits, as
you all know.
Here is the older News story which is the vital
to understanding the yes-and-no answer, which will be expounded on in
the next episode.
http://www.azom.com/News.asp?NewsID=1249
Conceivably,
then, the Dodecahedron, which is a platonic solid of 12 regular items,
when composed of 12 lithium atomic fermions "could" act as if these are
6 pairs of quasi bosons (i.e. 6 "dilithiums") so that when considered as the
dodecahedral unit (also an excition in this hypothesis) the unit is bosonic.
The difficulty of getting the "1/6/12" composite boson into a self-same energy
state will be overlooked until the next post, but it indulges the notion of a
very strong spintronic self-generated magnetic field, among other things. It
can be noted that a pair of electrons orbiting at an angstrom distance can
generate a coherent field of 12 Tesla or more when in strong external field.
Since
bosons are often "force carriers" while fermions are usually associated
with matter, there exist with bosons a possible way to "multiply" an
external input of energy to the *single location in space* (say it is a
wave of high frequency energy) - which then kills the bosonic state -
but - possibly at a net gainful level, since all of the superimposed particles
are boosted as an indivisible item at first. With the dodecahedral arrangement
this could give a gross COP =
12.
Since the distinction between the two spin-states is not as clear-cut in
quantum physics as it cold be, especially when it comes to groups of atoms,
such as
those we might find in the very small version of the "exciton" of 12
atoms, there can be little real authority to go on here. Otherwise this
hypothesis would be easy to shoot down, and it may still be very easy to do
that - but Spock is
seldom wrong.
What is the largest "composite boson" then, one
which will act like a boson for the purpose of cohering energy - via
being able to occupy the same place in space for some substantial time
period [i.e. cohereing energy from another system like the ZPF]?
This is the most important question in all of alternative energy IMHO.
My
answer as for now - awkshully, it is "Spock's" answer to me, in my dream
last night - is twelve. IOW 6 units of dilithium in a dodecaheral
excition.
More later.
Jones (with help from Spock, Pastor Rod, Yaweh and assorted muses from afar)
For
those readers who have actually followed this argument - even if you do
not agree that the conclusion is remotely possible - imagine how silly it would
have sounded
to you if I had simply stated at the outset that "dilithium is real"
.... that is precisely what I was referring to in the third
paragraph: "what is real?" since many things which are real in the imagination,
especially the SciFi imagination, later become real in factuality. Sometimes
many decades later: think, or thank Jules Verne for that réalisation , so to
speak.
