At 05:22 PM 12/3/2009, Jed Rothwell wrote:
2. In theory papers I do not recall seeing a section titled "predictions" or something like that.
To be fair, in LENR, so little is known with solidity about what's going on that even if a theory is correct in general outlines, it could be difficult to make accurate predictions based on it.
However, sometimes predictions are fairly obvious. When I first asked about Takahashi's TSC theory here, I hadn't read all his material, and I sort of assumed that it would predict 23.8 MeV alphas. I.e, if that Be-8 nucleus decays within a femtosecond, it wouldn't have time to do anything else with the energy, eh?
It wasn't a conscious assumption, just the fact that Be-8 is known to spontaneously decay into two alphas. But the Be-8 nucleus is quite excited, I don't know the value, and in an earlier paper Takahashi described the expected emission of energy as photons. There are specific frequencies he describes, and this is essentially a prediction; unfortunately, translating that to experimental results may not be easy, because of the rapid absorption of these photons. Horace described a cathode that would be built upon a base full of tiny holes that would allow the escape of EUV photons, so maybe they could be detected. The holes would be so small that surface tension would prevent escape of the electrolyte through them. And, I'll add, not knowing the absorption of EUV by air, the space beyond the cathode (outside the cell) might be evacuated, with the detector being in that vacuum.
There are other possible ways of detecting that radiation, I'd think, or possibly of detecting the transient presence of Be-8, though the quantity there could make it *really* difficult. It may also be possible to look for other associated conditions, such as the incidence of D2 molecules just below the surface of the cathode.
Whatever theories are to be worked on, they should explain the common heat/helium ratio at roughly the Q factor for d-d -> He4, even if that isn't the actual reaction all the time. Direct transfer of energy from d-d fusion to the lattice leaves out the problem of branching ratio, so first of all the theory should explain why the otherwise very rare pathway of -> He4 predominates, and then what the hell happens to the energy, where are the gammas? Takahashi does apparently answer this.
What's known about Be-8? What's known to happen when Be-8 is formed by other means, such as collision of two alphas?
