*Negative hydrogen (H-) ions make all the difference.*
>From the 2010 Piantelli patent an important section is excerpted for your convenience as follows: [start quote] The H- ions can be obtained by treating, under particular operative conditions, hydrogen H2 molecules that have been previously adsorbed on said transition metal surface, where the semi-free valence electrons form a plasma. In particular, a heating is needed to cause lattice vibrations, i.e. phonons, whose energy is higher than a first activation energy threshold, through non-linear and an harmonic phenomena. In such conditions, the following events can occur: a dissociation of the hydrogen molecules that is adsorbed on the surface; an interaction with valence electrons of the metal, and formation of H- ions; - an adsorption of the H- ions into the clusters, in particular the clusters that form the two or three crystal layers that are most close to the surface. The H- ions can just physically interact with the metal, or can chemically bond with it, in which case hydrides can be formed. The H- ions can also be adsorbed into the lattice interstices, but adsorption at the grain edges, by trapping the ions into the lattice defects; replacement of an atom of the metal of clusters may also occur. After such adsorption step, the H- ions interact with the atoms of the clusters, provided that a second activation threshold is exceeded, which is higher than the first threshold. By exceeding this second threshold, in accordance with the Pauli exclusion principle and with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, the conditions are created for replacing electrons of metal atoms with H- ions, and, accordingly, for forming metal-hydrogen complex atoms. This event can take place due to the fermion nature of H- ion; however, since H- ions have a mass 1838 times larger than an electron mass, they tend towards deeper layers, and cause an emission of Auger electrons and of X rays. Subsequently, since the H- ion Bohr radius is comparable with the metal core radius, the H- ions can be captured by the metal core, causing a structural reorganization and freeing energy by mass defect; the H- ions can now be expelled as protons, and can generate nuclear reactions with the neighbouring cores. More in detail, the complex atom that has formed by the metal atom capturing the H- ion, in the full respect of the energy conservation principle, of the Pauli exclusion principle, and of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, is forced towards an excited status, therefore it reorganizes itself by the migration of the H- ion towards deeper orbitals or levels, i.e. towards a minimum energy state, thus emitting Auger electrons and X rays during the level changes. The H- ion falls into a potential hole and concentrates the energy which was previously distributed upon a volume whose radius is about 10e-12 m into a smaller volume whose radius is about 5x10e-15 m. At the end of the process, the H- ion is at a distance from the core that is comparable with the nuclear radius; in fact in the fundamental status of the complex atom that is formed by adding the H- ion, due to its mass that is far greater than the mass of the electron, the H- ion is forced to stay at such deep level at a distance from the core that is comparable with the nuclear radius, in accordance with Bohr radius calculation. As above stated, owing to the short distance from the core, a process is triggered in which the H- ion is captured by the core, with a structural reorganization and energy release by mass defect, similarly to what happens in the case of electron capture with structural reorganization and energy release by mass defect or in case of loss of two electrons, due to their intrinsic instability, during the fall process towards the lowest layers, and eventually an expulsion of the the H- ion takes place as a proton, as experimentally detected in the cloud chamber, and nuclear reactions can occur with other neighboring cores, said reactions detected as transmutations on the active core after the production of energy. According to the above, the actual process cannot be considered as a fusion process of hydrogen atoms, in particular of particular hydrogen isotopes atoms; instead, the process has to be understood as an interaction of a transition metal and hydrogen in general, in its particular form of H- ion.[end quote] The H- ion is the active agent in both the Piantelli and Rossi process which itself is just a variation of the Piantelli process. Upon reading this section, I remembered that the THYRATRON. The hydrogen thyratron is a high peak power electrical switch which uses hydrogen gas as the switching medium. The switching action is achieved by a transfer from the insulating properties of neutral gas to the conducting properties of ionized gas. The process of switching in a hydrogen thyratron can be broken down into four phases. These are voltage hold-off, commutation, conduction and recovery. Of interest as applied the Rossi process, the Thyratron communication phase is achieved by introducing plasma into the grid/anode region via slots in the grid structure. The plasma is created in the cathode/grid region by a fast rising trigger pulse applied to the grid(s), which then diffuses to the grid slots where it comes under the influence of the anode field. The trigger plasma provides a copious supply of electrons so that anode breakdown proceeds until ionised plasma connects the cathode and anode. A thyratron differs from a vacuum tube in that it has a filling of hydrogen which plays a key role in the conduction of relatively large currents with only a nominal voltage drop across the tube. Electrons emitted from the cathode of a vacuum tube encounter a negative gradient or space charge caused by the presence of other electrons that have been previously emitted. The result is that most of the electrons return to the cathode while only those emitted with the highest energy succeed in penetrating the negative space charge and moving on to the anode. Because of the presence of gas or vapor molecules in the thyratron, an emitted electron that travels a sufficient distance is likely to collide with a neutral hydrogen gas molecule, and if the energy of the electron is sufficient it will cause the gas molecule to ionize. The neutral hydrogen gas is transformed into plasma of negative and positive ions. The negative ions, which is relatively long lived, will migrate toward the most positive region of the tube. In doing so, partial neutralization of the negative space charge occurs, a condition which is conducive to an increased flow of electrons from the cathode. This process is cumulative in that the increased flow of electrons further increases the probability of ionization until the process, when carried to its completion, entirely eliminates the positive space-charge region. Thus, in addition to the higher energy electrons, practically all of the electrons emitted become available for anode current flow, with the maximum current being limited only by the size of the cathode. In the Rossi reactor, the reaction vessel wall is grounded and will have a positive charge relative to the electron emitting cathode. Negative hydrogen ions will impact the surface of the nickel oxide nanopowder affixed to the reactor walls. These H- ions will be driven into the countless nanoscopic oxygen vacancy defects produced during the initial conditioning and loading of the hydrogen gas and accumulate. Like the thyratron, the Rossi heater internal to the reaction vessel acts a cathode which emits large quantities of electrons. *Caesium* This Rossi heater/cathode is comprised of tungsten doped with any number of low work function elements. The most ion productive element that could be used as a Rossi cathode dopant is caesium. It is compatible with the Rossi process because it is a vigorous getter of oxygen and will readily bind with the oxygen expelled from the NiO nanoparticles. More so than plain Caesium, this oxide of caesium is extremely efficient in the production of electrons from the cathode/heater filament. Rossi has a deep background in thermoelectric technology and this aforementioned approach is standard fare in that discipline. He would tend to think along ion production lines by electricity rather than use a second chemical catalyst to form hydrogen ions. In addition, the cathode approach provides a direct electrical heat control mechanism independent of the output heat of the reactor. The difference between the Rossi approach and that of Piantelli is the production of huge amounts of negative ions that interact forcefully with the surface layers of nickel lattice interstices by the Rossi cathode by electrical means. In this way, many hydrogen ions are packed together into the tight confines of the nickel lattice interstices. This exercise in reverse engineering was fun while it lasted but now it may well be over.
