In reply to Abd ul-Rahman Lomax's message of Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:56:56 -0400: Hi, [snip] >Takahashi theory that a primary mechanism may be >the reaction 4d -> Be-8 -> 2He-4, which is a >reaction that requires no messy momentum transfer >to the lattice, with the alpha particles being >generated with equal and opposite momentum; so >half of them would be on a vector inward to the >cathode and would be absorbed there and generally unable to easily escape.
This argument is valid for *any* theory that produces energetic helium nuclei at a surface. However it might point to the fact that this is primarily a surface reaction, since if all or most of the helium nuclei were produced deep within the cathode, then few if any of them would escape. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/Project.html
