The atomic mass of "paired lithium-6" atoms is 2x 6.01512 = 12.03024
If the pairing were strong, this unit - which is being called "dilithium" could be arguably labeled as a bosonic-pair. There is evidence that it is strong. More on that later. The atomic mass of carbon-12 is exactly 12. Carbon-12 is bosonic. The small difference of 3% has never been of much interest AFAIK - in any previous scheme, or even wild hypothesis to use for nuclear energy for a number of reasons. 1) Lithium has been used as targets, and especially as the fission source for tritium, and in all kinds of nuclear experiments for 60 years or more; and there is no anecdotal evidence of an "easy" fusion reaction of lithium-6 to carbon. [however all of this prior R&D has approached lithium reactions from the 'hot' side, and not the 'cold' side] 2) With the possible exception of deuterium cold fusion in condensed matter, there is no good model for even suggesting a direct pathway to fusion to Carbon. [Duh! that LENR model is precisely what has suggested this now] Cosmology: It should be noted that lithium is primordiual and was created in the "big bang" but carbon was not. Our sun is a second generation star, so primordial lithium has been depleted over many billions of years. Being a rare element now, lithium has not been given much attention in physics, except as a source for tritium via fission. The large amount of carbon we find today on earth is assumed to have a stellar origin in a triple alpha process. A stellar lithium fusion process is unlikey but that does not necessarily rule out a "cold" QM (tunnelling) process having occured in first generation planetary sytems such as in cold "gas giants" like Saturn. IOW the knowledge base for lithium, both in cosmology and in the lab, is weak enough to permit a fizzix-meshugga to explore around the edges - snooping for traces of somthing which has been overlooked (or intentionally hidden)... and given that almost all QM processess have been overlooked (compared to "hot" processes) in the past - that is more or less where I am attempting to go with this unfolding hypothesis about a possible pathway to clean energy from bosonic lithium. Besides the carbon pathway, there are at least two other possibilities worth exploring. It goes without saying that in some few past LENR experiments - when using lithium hydroxide as an electroyte, excess heat and anomalous carbon have turned up. Since almost all available lithium that we have access to for these experiment is actually strongly depleted in 6Li -- due to our weapons programs, the source of this carbon from past experiments is likely NOT related to the above hypothesis. However .... If any experimenter has or can obtain access to lithium electrolytes which are strongly enriched in 6Li, then the preceding hypothesis could be bolstered or else mostly falsified, by a showing of whether or not comparatively robust amounts of carbon are turing up in the NAE. I have been told that there is an efficient low-tech way for someone with access to large amounts of natural lithium to do a decent enrichment in the light isotope for themself. Given that the ratio of 6:7 is so humongous, as isotopes go - this sounds logical but I have not tried it and will not even repeat it in public for fear of that being a touchy subject on the Homeland Security front. Besides the carbon pathway, as mentioned, there are at least two other possibilities worth exploring and it could be that energy is obtainable from the bosonic state via a coupling to the ZPF, which is where this rambling will attempt to go, in the next installment. Jones
