On Dec 7, 2009, at 12:37 PM, Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:
At 02:48 PM 12/7/2009, Horace Heffner wrote:
One neutron in 100 seconds or more is not a very big number. It is a
credible number, assuming my calculations are correct. It would take
a very good neutron spectrometer and laboratory conditions to
distinguish that from background. OTOH, if trace tritium doping were
used that number could easily be bumped up by a factor of 10,000,
assuming the triple tracks are indeed from 12C(n,n')3alpha reactions.
Did you mean to say, "assuming that the neutrons are from tritium
fusion"?
That was actually a stated premise of the calculation:
On Dec 7, 2009, at 10:51 AM, Horace Heffner wrote:
Assuming the neutron came from:
D + T --> 4He (3.5 MeV) + n (14.1 MeV)
it is 14.1 MeV, so we can assume the cross section of the 12C(n,n’)
3alpha is 0.3 barns = 3x10^-29 m^2.
Other neutrons are undoubtedly created, but only tritium reactions
produce energies high enough to make the triple tracks.
The D+D reaction creates a 0.82 MeV 3He and a 2.45 MeV neutron. The
2.45 MeV neutron can have a knock-on reaction with a proton and
produce a 1-2 MeV proton that will make a small but visible track in
the CR-39. It can also fuse with a proton and make a visible 2.45
MeV deuteron track in the CR-39. Other candidate reactions for high
energy neutrons are:
T + T --> 4He + 2 n + 11.3 MeV
T + 3He --> 4He + p + n + 12.1 MeV
but those reactions are not likely to occur in D2O CF experiments
That the triple tracks are from 12C breakup is, to my mind, not
seriously in doubt.
I think there may be a little bit of reason for doubt, as I noted in:
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/CFnuclearReactions.pdf
pages 20, and 26-30, the latter pages being the "TRACE TRITIUM AND
TRIPLE TRACKS" section.
My doubt is based on: Rusov VD, et al.,"Fast neutron recording by
dielectric track detectors in a palladium-deuterated-tritiated water
system in an electrolytic cell", Pis'ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 15(#19) (1989)
9--13 {In Russian}.
I wrote: "Rusov et al. observed 8 (+-4) high energy neutrons per
second in CR-39 using pure 50:50 DT water and 72% Pd, 25% Ag, 3% Au
electrodes, and 200 V electrolysis potential. This experiment
provides a solid indication of a nominal amount of DT fusion even
though there is no indication that proper lattice conditions for cold
fusion were established. If repeatable, that is a landmark
achievement because it proves fusion from chemical conditions.
Hopefully with what is known today the results can be greatly
improved. However, the low counts even at 50-50 DT mix may also be an
indication that the SPAWAR tracks are not from high energy neutrons.
The SPAWAR lattice must have a negligible amount of tritium, created
by cold fusion itself. The tritium branch in cold fusion is highly
suppressed. Even a slight doping of the electrolyte with tritium
should multiply the neutron counts in SPAWAR co-deposition style
experiments by orders of magnitude - provided the high energy
neutrons are from DT reactions."
That is not much of an improvement considering a 50:50 D-T mix. His
electrolysis method or choice of lattice could have botched any
chance of fusion, so the situation is indeterminate - but that means
doubt.
As I go on to say, there are other candidate reactions, including the
proton knock-on:
lambda0 + p --> p + p + pi-
which can fill the bill, if the strange (and also weird!) reactions I
specified are actually occurring. What is interesting about the
strange matter theory is that it accounts for the tendency of excess
heat to occur in excursions. What is not good about it is there
should be some detectable gammas. OTOH, there are lots of theories
regarding how gammas can get swallowed up by the lattice. I think I
referenced one by Mitchell Swartz, who lurks here, at least on occasion.
What's speculative at this point is the source of the neutrons,
other than "from the cathode."
Neutrons are present in cosmic ray showers, but they would be very
unlikely to appear to be coming from the cathode, as the SPAWAR
tracks appear to do. Also, triple tracks don't show up in the
control experiments.
Thanks for doing the heavy lifting.
My pleasure.
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
