The path to to fusion is not the mainstream path

[Frank Sanns]

There are two main reasons to build something new. One is to make something that works. The other is to make something that you can learn something from.

I favor the latter. It is much easier to build small crude screening experiments than to build expensive and time consuming monstrosities. Some things do have to scale to size for SOME experiments and for production but small or even thought experiments work for others.

At this point electron "shells" come to mind. Photons are emitted when an excited state moves electrons into higher energy states. The energy is shed by the laws of the universe into lower and lower energy states shedding photons through each energy dropping step. Once the lowest energy (ground) state is reached, no more photons can be produced as there is no more excess energy to carry away.

These transitions can occur spontaneously or triggered by another photon in close proximity to the excited electron, i.e. stimulated emission.

I will skip the chemical orbital interactions that form all molecules since this is a physics post and not a chemistry post but know that there is more to this. Point to be made below.

We are taught that there electrons are responsible for all light that we see. It can be from electron changing energy states in any way. It can be via change in atomic orbitals or through acceleration of the electron charge like in case of the Bremsstrahlung x-ray radiation that comes from electrons rapidly decelerating in the shell of an operating fusor. So photons in the form of high energy x-rays can be produced up into the MeV energies and even beyond by electrons.

This would be the end of the story except for one important point. Atomic nuclei ALSO produce photons. The is often overlooked because we do not see any light coming from the nucleus. The photons however are as real as those produced by electrons. They also come from a discrete energy level within the nucleus as they produce sharp spectral lines. The spectral energies are orders of magnitude higher than electronic transitions so the energy states themselves must be much higher.

These emissions come from charge transitions so it would be easy to conclude that they come solely from the charged protons as the neutrons have no net charge. Yes, NET charge. Things are complicated. Three quarks make up both the protons and the neutrons. In the case of the neutron the charges are offset for no net charge. Yet in the environment of a nucleus and the large forces there, it must be considered that exchanges of quarks may produce mesons or other short lived species that could possess a charge. Even quarks themselves at fractional fundamental charge may be the source of photons.

These type of mechanisms give insight into the workings of the nucleus and possibility new routes to nuclear fusion.

It is work like LENR and other more finessed fusion approaches that interest me and is what I ponder and experiment on. The lucky donkey will not be smashing atoms together harder. They will doing it smarter through research done in other areas. It may or may not be new science but rather a better explanation of mechanisms that were hiding in plain sight within the noise or somewhere else that has not be fully understood.

This post was in response to the LENR post but is more expansive hence a new thread. Hope it stimulates some neurons for those reading.

[Paul_Schatzkin]

.
Interesting.

Most of this I will have to re-read several times to get the gist. I'm just not educated enough in Quantum Mechanics to follow along.

But this point I can relate to entirely:

The lucky donkey will not be smashing atoms together harder. They will doing it smarter through research done in other areas. It may or may not be new science but rather a better explanation of mechanisms that were hiding in plain sight within the noise or somewhere else that has not be fully understood.

Hiding in plain sight... that's kinda what I've been inferring for as long as I've hosted this site (and its predecessors).

Or, as Schopenhauer put it:

“All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; second, it is violently opposed; and third, it is accepted as self-evident."

Translation: What are we missing??

If anybody''s wondering, this is the cold fusion / LENR thread Frank is referring to, with a link to Sabine Hossenfelder's recent video on the subject.

--PS

[Rich Gorski]

NASA (Glenn Research Center) did an analysis of various LENR concepts back in 2012 looking for evidence of fusion or some unknown chemistry. The results essentially were inconclusive. There were no extra neutrons detected from the palladium/heavy water experiment (no fusion neutrons detected. Could there be a very low level aneutronic branch that exists with DD reaction?) although they did note an anomalous heating in bulk Palladium. Interesting NASA report below.

20160000347.pdf

(2.32 MiB) Downloaded 30 times

Rich G.

[Dennis P Brown]

Excellent overall post and informative.

I'd like to add that besides simulated emission, 'spontaneous emission' is caused by the electron/anti-electron pairs being produced near the atoms. This causes excited electrons to be 'simulated' to decay and emit photons. This is why excited electrons have such short lifetimes. Besides the Lamb effect, this is further support for this concept from Field Theory.

To tell the difference between x-rays (photons) and gamma rays (also photons), the gamma's are only produced by nuclei and x-rays by inner most electron emission or capture.

Post Edit: saw the "LENR" and wanted to mention for those not familiar with this it means: Low Energy Nuclear Reactions. Often used instead of 'cold' fusion. Still, no real confirmation of anyone who claims net energy for cold fusion.

[Richard Hull]

As I noted in the LENR post response. If LENR is real, it will shake up chemistry and physics a bit, But certainly not be a big energy producer for electrical use. However, it will be an interesting curiosity. If aneutronic,as it seems from past research that seemed positive for energy, that would be very interesting indeed.

This search for CF/CANR/LENR has been studied in much detail since 1989. The Japanese really did a lot of early work.

Frank and I have talked about this for some time now. I am glad Frank (A degreed chemist) is thinking much more about it now.

Richard Hull