I haven't had the time to catch up on the many posts on this subject,
so hopefully this will not duplicate too much or be irrelevant.
Also, I don't have much time for follow up right now, but I figure it
is better to post this than not.
The following is based on the assumption that the Rossi et al
experiments and patent are as presented by Rossi, and in any case the
following comments are potentially applicable to any protium based
heavy transmutation experimental domain.
BACKGROUND RELATED TO PROTIUM BASED LENR
My thoughts on both protium (and deuterium) based heavy element
transmutation LENR, in which Rossi appears to be engaged, especially
given the observation of transmutation of Ni to CU, have already
been fairly well covered in my Journal of Nuclear Physics (blog)
article, "Cold Fusion Nuclear Reactions" at:
http://www.journal-of-nuclear-physics.com/files/Cold%20Fusion%
20Nuclear%20Reactions%20-%20Horace%20Heffner.pdf
http://tinyurl.com/28o3s66
and in references therein to things I wrote, like the "Notes on
Report Contents" in:
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/dfRpt
or the table:
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/RptB.pdf
METALLIC GLASSES
Given that Rossi is using a nano-powder comprised of Ni and other
elemental additives, and has observed melting or sintering of the
nano-powder, it is a reasonable hypothesis that, intentionally or
not, a metallic glass is involved at some level.
The properties of various hydrogen loaded metallic glasses have been
studied. As noted on page 35 of my Journal of Nuclear Physics
(blog) article at:
http://www.journal-of-nuclear-physics.com/files/Cold%20Fusion%
20Nuclear%20Reactions%20-%20Horace%20Heffner.pdf
http://tinyurl.com/28o3s66
"Hydrogen properties have been investigated in a wide variety of fcc
metals, bcc
metals, hexagonal metals, alloys and metallic glasses.65"
"63 Wipf, H., Editor 1997, Topics in Applied Physics, Hydrogen in
Metals II,
Properties and applications,Springer-Verlag,1997,ISBN 3-540-61639, p.
141-142
64 Ibid, p. 135
65 Ibid, pp. 59-75"
Metallic glasses specifically listed as investigated on page 74 of
the above Wipf reference include:
Cu_x Ti_(1-x)
Fe_x B_(1-x)
Fe_x Ni_y P_z B_(1-x-y-z)
Fe_x Zr_(1-x)
Ni_x Pd_y P_(1-x-y)
Ni_x Zr_(1-x)
Pd_x Cu_y Si_(1-x-y)
Pd_x Si_(1-x)
Zr_x Rh_(1-x)
Especially noteworthy are the glasses Ni_x Pd_y P_(1-x-y), Fe_x Ni_y
P_z B_(1-x-y-z), and Ni_x Zr_(1-x), which contain Ni.
Further noted on Wipf page 74: "A chief effect of the
configurational disorder in these glasses is that the jump rates of
the hydrogen and the energies (or occupational probabilities) of the
interstitial sites, which can be occupied by the hydrogen, vary
drastically and randomly from site to site."
"A second consequence of structural disorder is a suppression of the
formation of hydride phases so that large concentrations can be
found, and investigated, without any substantial changes in the
structure of the glass." The potential relevance of this to LENR
should be obvious.
It is of further possible interest that "the chemical diffusion
coefficient increases in general with rising hydrogen content." This
is because "the hydrogen tends to occupy the interstitial sites with
energies as low as possible. At high concentrations hydrogen has to
reside on energetically less favorable [less bound] sites. "This
means that with rising hydrogen concentration, the hydrogen atoms
need to pass increasingly lower potential barriers in the diffusion
process ...". The hopping rate thus increases with loading, a
fortunate relationship for triggering LENR.
There are other clear benefits to these disorder properties,
especially low granularity large variations in hopping barriers,
benefits that are specifically related to the deflation fusion theory
as described in my above referenced article and its references. Also
notable is the likelihood of similar properties in the amorphous
alloys and intermetallics noted on page 35 of "Cold Fusion Nuclear
Reactions".
Some other note regarding metallic glasses can be found in these
vortex posts:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg29518.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg29520.html
The Hoffman PhD thesis referenced in the above above is now located at:
http://thesis.library.caltech.edu/3438/1/Hofmann_PhD.pdf
THE MAGNETIC ENVIRONMENT OF METALLIC GLASSES
There are important magnetic issues related to metallic glasses.
The disorder properties of metallic glasses have another potentially
useful property, which is production of a highly variable and potent
magnetic field gradient environment.
As noted in my "Deflation Fusion" article in Infinite Energy:
http://www.mtaonline.net/%7Ehheffner/DeflationFusion2.pdf
"It has been noted that in some cases magnetic fields improve the
success rate at
producing LENR. This is highly consistent with the deflation fusion
concept in that
a magnetic force aligned between hydrogen locations and lattice atom
locations
provides a potential that greatly increases the probability of
tunneling in the
deflated state. However, it is most notable that it is not a magnetic
field alone
which should have an effect, it is a magnetic gradient that provides
a magnetic force
and thus an increased tunneling probability for deflated state
nuclei. Attempts to
produce magnetically enhanced LENR rates should thus attempt to
optimize both
the magnitude and direction of the magnetic gradient across the
lattice, not just
place a magnetic field through the lattice. It is especially
noteworthy that powerful
magnetic gradients can be induced within a lattice by use of coherent
x-rays."
It is difficult to impose extreme magnetic gradients except at atomic
distances by atomic or molecular means, but the use of metallic
glasses provides the feasibility of including or imbedding high
magnetic moment target nuclei in the glass, as well as providing very
short range and thus high magnetic field gradient conditions. A
magnetic field may assist in spin pre-alignment and thus spin
coupling and net magnetic attraction, but it is the magnetic gradient
that provides force upon electrostatically neutral particles such as
deflated hydrogen nuclei, and thus which provides a net energy which
is favorable, and also otherwise unavailable, to neutral particle
tunneling events. High magnetic gradient environments should thus
favor heavy transmutation events, vs hydrogen fusion events, because
the inter-nuclear distances, the tunneling distances, are shorter
for heavy transmutation causing events. The distance between
interstitial sites is larger than the distance from an interstitial
site and a neighboring lattice atom. Ordinary D-D cold fusion relies
principally on electrostatic forces and shielding to make tunneling
events between lattice sites energetically favorable, while
transmutational tunneling events rely on magnetic gradients because
the neutral (deflated, i.e. cloaked) hydrogen must do the
tunneling. Electrostatic force can thus not provide the net energy
required for heavy transmutation tunneling. In the case of ordinary
hydrogen fusion tunneling events it is the uncloaked hydrogen which
for the most part does the tunneling to a static cloaked hydrogen
interstitial locus. Site hopping in the D-D case is due primarily to
an electrostatic force, not a magnetic force.
It is clear that large clusters of hydrogen can also form in metallic
glasses. It seems to me that hydrogen cluster events for large
clusters are driven by other mechanisms, related to Bose Condensates,
as described in the 1996 "The Bose Condensate Hypothesis of Cold
FUsion" article here:
http://mtaonline.net/~hheffner/BoseHyp.pdf
Fusion of such clusters should require an external stimulus, such as
by cosmic rays, adjacent fusion reactions, or by the fast moving
deuterons in the Kasagi experiments, or fast moving electrons in the
Kamada experiments. In those experiments large hydrogen clusters
were formed by hydrogen bombardment of metals, and clearly produced
nuclear events when the clusters were appropriately stimulated, even
though the stimulation energies were effective at anomalously low
values by standard theory.
OPTIMAL ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
As noted above, a magnetic gradient is required to affect the energy
potential for a tunneling event for heavy element transmutation
LENR. However, a strong magnetic field can increase the probability
of N-pole-to-S-pole nuclear spin alignment and thus a strong magnetic
gradient between H and heavy nuclei. The ideal field alignment for
heavy transmutation then is a magnetic field gradient aligned with
the magnetic field and with the lattice internal electrostatic
field. There was no evidence presented that Rossi is using
externally imposed magnetic or electrostatic fields, in fact he
stated on thermal input was used, but such fields might be involved
internally to a metallic glass or other catalytic agent. Use of
externally applied fields is of course an area worth study,
especially extreme magnetic fields and high internal fields enabled
by use of high resistance LENR catalytic materials.
OPERATION ABOVE DEBYE TEMPERATURE
It is worthy of further note that Rossi's device is at least cycled
above the Debye temperature for Ni (450 deg. C) and produces heat
there. This to me is some evidence that the nuclear active
environment is indeed an amorphous glass. It may also indicate the
Debye temperature of the medium is higher than that of nickel.
It is of possible significance that operation above the Debye
temperature reduces electron based magnetic properties. This could
reduce electron based magnetic screening of the nuclei, and thereby
increase magnetic energy enabled tunneling to target heavy nuclei.
THERMAL REGULATION
As described in the "THERMAL CYCLING AND HIGH TEMPERATURE ALLOYS"
section of my I.E. article "Deflation Fusion", which can be found at:
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/DeflationFusion.pdf
thermal cycling is key to operating in high temperature gas mode. A
high temperature can be used to enable high hydrogen diffusion rates
and fast high concentration loading, followed by a temperature
reduction which then actually brings on the excess heat, through
orbital stressing and thus deflated state hydrogen concentration
increasing. Rossi actually notes the stability of operating at about
400 deg. C., which is just below the Ni Debye temperature. However,
depending on the mix of lattice elements and temperature, non-thermal
(non-phonon based) orbital stressing may not be required for
increasing the concentration of deflated hydrogen to a value that
sustains excess heat production.
If a lattice material is designed to produce excess heat only upon
temperature reduction post loading, then thermal regulation is not a
problem. However, unexpected reactions, such as the build-up of
hyperons, as described in the "Cold Fusion Nuclear Reactions"
article, or of excessively active heavy LENR byproducts, should
obviously always be considered a possibility and justification for
appropriate safety precautions.
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
