Actually the issue is more complicated than Jed describes.
Conventional belief is that the chemical environment has very little
or no effect on whether a nuclear reaction will occur. The cold
fusion process challenges this belief.
Normally, nuclear processes require too much energy to be initiated
by a chemical environment. In fact, a chemical reaction does not
trigger the nuclear reaction in a bomb. The reaction is triggered when
the density of the Pu is increased by any process or when extra
neutrons are supplied, which is done in a bomb. The process does not
involve chemistry.
Ed
On Mar 25, 2009, at 8:12 AM, Jed Rothwell wrote:
I do not see any problem with Krivit's characterization of cold
fusion.
In a sense, all man-made nuclear systems are a hybrid of either
chemical or mechanical systems plus nuclear power. In a bomb, a
chemical reaction triggers a fission reaction which in turn triggers
a fusion reaction. In a generator the control rods are mechanically
moved to adjust criticality. Something similar to that must be
occurring on a microscopic scale on the surface of an active cold
fusion cathode.
I suppose you could say that the reaction occurring in a star is
triggered by mechanical packing of the hydrogen under the force of
gravity.
- Jed
