On Feb 27, 2011, at 11:19 AM, [email protected] wrote:
In reply to Horace Heffner's message of Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:47:53
-0900:
Hi,
[snip]
A virtual neutron is a small neutral object comprising a proton and
an electron
with a mass less than that of a real neutron, that hasn't (yet?)
undergone a
weak force reaction.
It has the ability to closely approach another nucleus thereby
increasing the
likelihood of tunneling, due to no Coulomb field repulsion.
The above seems to me to be nonsense. A proton and electron can not
"closely approach a nucleus" without a substantial binding energy.
Otherwise the nuclear electrostatic field will tear apart the
ensemble. What is the nature of this binding energy?
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
