On Aug 17, 2012, at 18:28, Jeff Berkowitz <[email protected]> wrote: > Widom Larsen postulate that the neutrons are produced when a proton captures > an electron. The process is endothermic (energy must be supplied or it will > not occur) so the neutrons initially have extremely low energy ("cold"). As a > result they are nearly stationary and don't leave the material. Also the > reaction cross-section with nearby nuclei is high leading to a cascade of > nuclear effects that product the observed energy.
I believe the usual nuetron activation would lead to some short-lived isotopes. But what is seen are shifts to stable isotopes, which is a detail that would need to be accounted for. There are low levels of tritium, which is radioactive, but this appears to be the sole exception and can possibly be accounted for in other ways. Eric
