In reply to Jones Beene's message of Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:49:39 -0700: Hi, [snip] >get. In fact, it points directly at the most probably reaction, which is >technically a form of fission (alpha emission), specifically indicating >Pd(n,alpha) or one of dozens of similar well-known nuclear reactions that >end up with transmutation products including Ag, Cd, Rh etc, and about 1 MeV >of excess energy. IOW the helium which is seen is the alpha, which was once >in the nucleus of the electrodes.
The cross section for the production of an alpha particle upon absorption of a thermal neutron is:- Pd-102 ~= 1E-4 b Pd-104 ~= 5E-6 b All the rest of the stable isotopes of Pd have a zero cross section. However in all fairness, I should add that absorption of a proton or deuteron would probably have a very different cross section, due to the addition of positive charge to the nucleus, which is then counteracted by the removal of positive charge by the alpha particle. A better estimate for the addition of a proton may perhaps be made by comparing with the cross section for neutron absorption of a nucleus that would end up the same as a Pd nucleus after absorption of a proton. E.g. Pd-106 + p -> Rh-103 + He-4 & Ag-106 + n -> Rh-103 + He-4 (Unfortunately, I can't find info for the latter reaction. However of all the info that is available, the cross section for radiative capture far outstrips the rest, leading me to suspect that this is the dominant path. That in turn implies that an end product of Ag-107 is probably far more likely than production of Rh-103 + He-4). > >IOW The only rock solid thing at all in LENR is that is NO (as in zero, >zilch, nada, nil, negatory) *high energy gamma.* These gammas cannot be >hidden, and stick out like a sore thumb. D+D fusion always produces a high >energy gamma. There are no known instances in nuclear physics where >deuterium fusion does not produce a high energy gamma. As has been pointed out here before, either Horace's deflation fusion or severely shrunken Hydrinos offer the possibility (and with Horace's model the high probability), that the energy will be released through the IC (Internal Conversion) mechanism, rather than through a gamma-ray. IC produces an energetic electron, which is somewhat analogous to beta decay, however with the specific signature that the electron energy is a fixed value (as it is not shared with a neutrino, there being no weak force reaction involved). [snip] Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/Project.html
