Hi, I'm trying to get a better understanding of an interesting scenario that maybe some people with relevant expertise can help to pin down. Suppose a strong transient develops in a gap between two electrically isolated surfaces of a metal (e.g., there is a spark discharge), and suppose there is a good amount of hydrogen between the two surfaces. See:
http://i.imgur.com/kxNzD6s.png As in a previous set of illustrations, the blue represents the electron charge density. I understand that the following might happen over a brief period of time: - The hydrogen within the field of the transient will be ionized. - The now-bare protons will move in direction of the current that is formed. - In proportion to the magnitude of the current, a confining magnetic field will be set up along the axis of the current (a z-pinch). - In proportion to the magnitude of the magnetic field of the z-pinch, the protons (and the electrons) in the current will be constrained to the single dimension of the axis of travel. - The current of protons will quickly pile up within a defect on one side of the gap formed between the two metal surfaces. - Lattice sites along the walls of the defect will provide an obstacle to the protons' escaping the pileup insofar as: - the force created by the proton pileup does not yet exceed the binding energy that holds the lattice sites in place (in the range of eV?); - the inertia of the lattice sites in the walls of the defect is sufficient remain relatively stationary for that brief period of time. Where I'm going with this is that if the proton current moves fast enough and enters into the space of the defect in the metal wall, the inertia of the lattice sites might be sufficient to compress the pile-on protons to high degrees. Moreover, since there is a magnetic gradient that moves the protons towards the axis of the current, the pile-on protons would be focused towards a single point at the far end of the defect in the wall rather than spreading out along the surface. The orders of magnitude are important to get right in these kinds of thought experiments -- perhaps I've inappropriately mixed up phenomena that would be occurring at widely different orders of magnitude in space and/or time? (E.g., the size of the lattice spacing versus the compression needed for a fusion, or the amount of time that the inertia of the lattice sites would buy for compression of this kind.) Eric
