In the case of regular fusion the kinetic energy of the proton would be
conserved in the reaction products (i.e. the total energy of the system would
be 5.6 MeV + 3.41MeV) these reaction products might be a Cu59 nucleus with
9.01MeV of kinetic energy or more likely some combination of gamma rays,
neutrinos, nuclear excitation, and other nuclear reaction products. I am not
familiar with the specifics of this reaction.
The fusion of Iron inside a star is a different matter. Iron can fuse with
hydrogen in an exothermic reaction because hydrogen has zero binding energy due
to the fact that it has a single proton nucleus. Iron cannot fuse with itself
inside a star because the resultant reaction would be endothermic, this is why
stars burn out, not because of H + Fe fusion.
To: vortex-l@eskimo.com
Subject: Re: [Vo]: Proton Fusion Ni58 to Cu59 Endothermic?
From: dlrober...@aol.com
Date: Tue, 22 May 2012 17:53:30 -0400
That idea crossed my mind but I still do not know where the 5.6 MeV of energy
imparted upon the proton wound up. If the path were exothermic I would expect
to be able to recover(or at least locate) all of the 5.6 MeV as well as some
extra energy.
I recall reading an article years ago that suggested that fusion energy was
possible within stars until the final product was iron. The star would then
collapse under the influence of gravity due to the lack of extra heat. Could
this be the effect that I am calculating? It does seem to add up in the
numbers.
Dave
-----Original Message-----
From: Jones Beene <jone...@pacbell.net>
To: vortex-l <vortex-l@eskimo.com>
Sent: Tue, May 22, 2012 5:22 pm
Subject: RE: [Vo]: Proton Fusion Ni58 to Cu59 Endothermic?
Are you discounting QM and quantum tunneling?
One could say that the in tunneling - threshold energy is briefly "borrowed"
and then a short time later, the "debt" is repaid – before the net gain is
obvious.
From: David Roberson
Could you help me understand how the 5.6 MeV is recovered or released? Is
there extra energy released into the copper crystal structure that equals this
magnitude? I am having a difficult time trying to get back the 5.6 MeV to
make the next proton energetic enough for the next reaction. Forgive me for
being ignorant about this mechanism, but it truly is difficult to visualize.
