In reply to David Roberson's message of Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:04:47 -0400 (EDT): Hi, [snip] >Am I mistaken in my understanding that the strong force is associated with >binding energy within the nucleus?
No. > I would consider their process a use of the weak force to generate neutrons > followed by a strong force interaction to release the vast stored binding > energy. There is still room for the binding energy to be released in another > form instead of gamma rays which we know would be difficult to control once > freed. There are numerous reactions listed in fusion sources where little > gamma energy is released. In these cases I generally see two or more fairly > massive particles being emitted that share the energy in the form of kinetic > energy. > >Thus far I have found it difficult to determine exactly what energy mix is >released with fusion type nuclear reactions. I am unable to understand why >some release only kinetic energy while others emit only gammas and still other >reactions result in the release of both types of energy. How does one obtain >a solution to this problem? Fast particle emission is a rapid process. It usually occurs essentially at the same time as the nuclear reaction i.e. on the order of 1E-23 seconds. Gamma emission OTOH is relatively slow by comparison (order 1E-17 seconds). IOW something like 5-6 orders of magnitude slower. This means that in most cases when particle emission is possible, it happens by preference. Sometimes however particle emission doesn't leave the resultant nucleus in its ground state, and it may then still emit some (usually weak) gammas. [snip] Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
