In reply to David Roberson's message of Sat, 11 Aug 2012 23:30:47 -0400 (EDT): Hi, [snip] > >I think that it is symmetrical. If you begin outside of the nucleus and enter >energy is released. If you then reclaim that same amount of energy back to >the nucleus and allow the proton to exit, you will be at the same condition as >you started. The net round trip yields a balanced condition with no net >energy transferred. [snip] This is just a restatement of the conservation of energy. The very fact that you need to supply energy to the nucleus in order to prize a particle free proves that the barrier is not symmetrical.
The barrier would be symmetrical if you got back the same amount of energy back that you put in to overcome the Coulomb barrier, but you don't. You get more - much more - in fact so much more that many people have been trying to do this for decades. :) Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
