Eric, some theories, including Ron's, are so filled with arbitrary
ideas without any connection to what is known that even starting a
critique is difficult. The problem is made worse when the description
is second hand. Many statements made in the first paragraph have no
relationship to observed behavior. Consequently, they individually and
collectively make the basic idea useless. I suggest if Ron wants to
discuss his ideas, he publish them in a paper where they can be
studied and evaluated, after which we can discuss what he means. If
he has published a paper, please send it to me.
I clearly have a different view of reality than many people here on
Vortex. This is based on observing how materials behave under a wide
variety of conditions. The description Ron gives (through you) simply
does not fit with what I know to be true. For example, atoms DO NOT
spontaneously initiate a nuclear reaction of any kind in normal
material. Therefore, "the close proximity" in a lattice is irrelevant
and starting with such an assumption is useless. Anything assumed
after this initial assumption is made has no relationship to reality.
You (Ron) need to start with an assumption that fits what is known.
This is like starting with the assumption that the earth is flat and
then proceed to explain earthquakes. Nothing after the original
assumption would be real no matter how cleverly stated.
Ed
On Jun 22, 2013, at 1:45 PM, Eric Walker wrote:
Ed, these are very good questions. At the risk of reiterating
points made in older threads, I'll attempt to address each question
as I am able.
On Sat, Jun 22, 2013 at 6:11 AM, Edmund Storms
<stor...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
In your theory, how is the energy released as kinetic energy without
particles being emitted?
It's not my theory -- it's Ron Maimon's. He's saying that in a Pd/D
system, specifically, there is a set of conditions in which two
deuterons will approach a palladium nucleus simultaneously. The
close proximity of the deuterons to the palladium nucleus will have
two effects. The first effect is to "focus" their de Broglie waves
in a way that will make it more likely for them to overlap. The
second effect is to cause the d+d→4He+Q branch to become much
preferred over the d(d,p)t and d(d,n)3He branches seen in plasma
fusion. The reason it becomes preferred is that the "Q" is dumped
as an electrostatic impulse that is shared between the daughter 4He
and spectator palladium nucleus once the metastable [4He]*
transitions to ground, rather than being emitted as a gamma ray.
Electrostatic dumping happens quickly, and hence is more probable,
while the emission of a photon takes a long time. This
electrostatic dumping of the energy translates into kinetic energy,
as might happen with an Auger electron in other contexts. The
reason the other two d+d branches are competitively disfavored, as
far as I can tell, is that the modified d(d,Q)4He branch becomes all
the more likely. The reason it becomes very likely is that there
are 46 protons in the palladium nucleus with which to interact via
the electrostatic force.
Ron talks about the Pd/D system, and I have graciously borrowed his
ideas and attempted to apply them to other systems such as Ni/H.
This account does imply the emission of particles. So an important
question is under what conditions they are produced and whether we
have done adequate work in ruling out prompt radiation when excess
heat is underway. There are plenty of experiments showing only
marginal levels of prompt radiation emerging from the substrate.
There are paltry few experiments, as far as I can tell, showing that
when there is excess heat there is no prompt radiation taking place
at some depth within the substrate.
How is momentum conserved?
The momentum of a fusion reaction is shared between the daughter or
daughters and the metal spectator nucleus. So in branches where a
photon would normally be emitted, there is instead recoil of the
metastable daughter during the transition to ground and no need for
photon emission.
Kinetic energy is defined as something moving with a velocity. How
is this velocity created from initially still objects while momentum
is conserved.
In the case of Pd/D, this is understood to happen electrostatically
with the decay of the metastable [4He]* daughter. The 4He is pushed
off of the nearby palladium nucleus, like a bullet from the back of
the chamber of a rifle.
Also, why does the system choose to release energy this way? What
rule makes this the easiest way?
I'm not sure. This is one of the many questions I have. I have
been trying to understand the system sufficiently to gain insight
into these questions, but it's been a slow learning process.
Just to anticipate an objection that this account implies energetic
particles, and energetic particles and their side effects are not
seen, I should mention that I'm reading the older papers and am
trying to collect more data on this topic so that I can better
understand this objection.
Eric
