Here is an image of helium-6, with the "halo nucleus" approximate dimensions - courtesy of AIP
http://www.aip.org/mgr/png/images/helium6.jpg For the alternative version of this isotope, which is being suggested to be a precursor (at least a candidate) to explain the tritium, when it is seen in Ni-H reactions - imagine that the two outlying neutrons are in fact Mills' hydrinos at maximum redundancy, instead of neutrons. They would be net neutral in charge. Each would have a mass approximately .78 MeV less than the neutron. The electron orbital of the hydrinos would have radii of one/two fm, so they would possess a negative near-field which would (possibly) make them more stable than the extra neutrons would be - being attracted to the positive alpha at the core of this version of 6He. What about the strong force? Dunno, but if it were going to be active in halo nuclei at this geometry, then the normal version of He6 would not possess its anomalously long lifetime of ~1 second. Again - the tritium which does show up in these reactions is the "big deal" for offering proof, so every possible explanation should be weighed, in an effort to pinpoint its true origin. Falsifiability is most important. Tritium - as proof - should already have won a share of the Nobel for someone twenty years ago. Revenge may be a dish best served chilled, but this one will be more like a cryo-pop. _____________________________________________ The appearance of tritium in Ni-H reactions may (or may not) depend on a prior population of deuterium. Most likely it does, but we would be remiss if we did not mention alternatives. There are other known and novel routes to tritium which do not depend on a threshold level of D ... and 'conservation of miracles' might favor one of these novel hypotheses :-) In any event, the following speculative hypothesis is falsifiable; and that is all that anyone can ask for, at this stage. This route would involve so-called "halo nuclei", specifically a known species of the halo phenomenon: 6He. But in this case, the "neutrons" are virtual and derive from Rydberg hydrogen (or in Mills' vocabulary, from dihydrinos). Here is a page describing the Helium 6 halo: http://www.rogerarm.freeuk.com/Pages/HaloNuclei.htm On decay from the halo state, a small percentage of these atoms would be expected to be tritium, which is easily detectable. With two-neutrons, the probability of forming 6He as a halo nucleus is hindered by both separation energy and angular momentum, which would be more favorable with two neutral hydrinos, due to significantly lower mass. IOW - as to appraising the QM probability of this nucleus ever forming to being with - the configuration of the two extra neutrons creates a large centrifugal barrier, favoring the much less massive but equally neutral hydrino species. The falsifiable part involves any of the prior experimental Ni-H setups where tritium is expected. There are more than a dozen papers on the LENR site where this is seen. The usual reactants would be nickel and potassium carbonate. The strategy (for falsifiability) to test the 4H or "hydrino helium halo hypothesis" is to compare a mix of hydrogen and helium as the gas fill, against hydrogen only, in two comparative experiment which are otherwise identical. If significantly more tritium is seen with the mix of hydrogen and helium, compared with hydrogen alone - all else being equal, then we have made a prima facie case for the validity of the hypothesis. Jones
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