Here’s my theory.
On either side of a crack in the substrate material, you’ve got electrons
moving at different speeds, creating a microscopically small differential
capacitor. The vibrations push the differential charge “upward”, which is to
say from the smallest separation of the crack to the largest. When the charge
differential gets to a certain point, a spark is generated. This spark is what
creates the Nuclear Active Environment. But it is not due to plasma physics,
it is due to a force generated by a spark that goes across the anode & cathode
of a capacitor. In the below Quantum Potential article, a propulsive force
was found that matches these conditions (except that we’re seeing it on a
microscopic level).
Asymmetric
Capacitor
Thruster
http://www.quantum-potential.com/ACT%20NASA.pdf
An earlier SBIR study commissioned by the Air Force reported a propulsive
force caused by a spark between ACT electrodes [3]. The study [3] also focused
on ACT thrust in high vacuum (10−5 to 10−7 Torr) and reports small (on the
order of 10 nN) thrust in vacuum under pulsed DC voltage conditions.
Furthermore, the study [3] reports observation of thrust when a piezoelectric
dielectric material such as lead titanate or lead zirconate (high relative
dielectric constants of k = 1750) was used between the ACT electrodes. The
thrust was apparently produced by slow pulsing spark-‐initiated breakdown of
the dielectric. The magnitude of the propulsive force increases with the
intensity of sparking across the dielectric. The study [3] recommended further
exploration of sparking across dielectrics as a source of propulsive forces in
ACTs. Unfortunately, no such follow-‐up study was conducted.
I believe this Asymmetric Capacitor force has been previously described as the
Poynting Vector. I think it is enhanced by the advent of a spark across the
electrodes. But I might be mistaken.
http://jnaudin.free.fr/html/pft01.htm
During a charging process of a flat capacitor, the Poynting vector ( S=ExH )
comes from outside the capacitor towards the wire connections, parallel to the
surface of the armatures inside the dielectric medium. There is an energy flow
directly proportional to ExB. This energy is not provided by the wires but
comes from the surrounding space around the capacitor. ( ref: "The Feynman
Lectures on Physics : Electromagnetism vol2, Chap: 27-5, fig 27-3" by
Addison-Wesley Publishing company. )
So, this Poynting Asymmetrical Capacitor Vector generates a unidirectional
force. Any protons within its path would be propelled into a nearby Hydrogen
atom which is trapped inside a Palladium matrix. This force is enough to
overcome the Coulomb Barrier.
A couple of guesses:
1) There would have to be hundreds of thousands of these sparks every
second, constantly spitting matter or protons or electrons in one direction
similar to a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) particle accelerator, where only 1 in 100k
particles actually collides with a nucleus of a hydrogen atom and fuses.
2) This force is proportional to the distance between electrodes, so the
effect would happen closer to the small vertex of the crack rather than the
large ends of the crack.
3) The transfer of energy of fused atoms is mostly heat because the
collision is unidirectional, and the gamma rays that are emitted only come out
in certain geometrical probabilities, and most of those probabilities are
directly in line with host atoms on the palladium (or nickel) matrix. I look
at it similar to a pellet gun hitting balloons -- most of the time the air
escapes the balloon in almost the same regions each time. These reactions only
occur one atom at a time, so the geometrically restricted release of gamma rays
is similarly restricted. The released energy is absorbed by the matrix one
atom-release at a time.
