Part 3 in a continuing effort to flesh out a workable hypothesis for energy gainfulness from bosonic low energy "paired-lithium" reactions - aka "dilithium".
In the most general terms, an "exciton" is an ostensibly *neutral* (in charge) agglomeration of atoms which is in a state of electrical stimulation for an extended lifetime: almost like an ion (which does have charge bias and a shorter lifetime). This state exists on a geometric scale which is called the Forster radius (there is usually an umlaut over the "o"). The term "quantum dot" has also been used for describing the same, or a very similar structure and size range. This is the same geometric scale or near it, of about 2 to 10 nanometers, where the Casimir force and Van de Waals forces are seen to operate. This is exactly where we find such strange phenomena as "luminescence" and also possibly it is a gateway for ZPE effects - via John Wheeler's "quantum foam". All of these concepts and fancy-argot are interrelated and new - yet there are articles on Wiki (which unfortuantely are in the same state of flux which you will see for LENR and other rapidly evolving subfields of physics). These articles have a decided slant towards semiconductor applications nowadays, but none of these terms is exclusive to that field. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Waals_force http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_dot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exciton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_foam A state of "charged-neutrality" is unusual and is due to the combination of an electron "hole" and a bound electron in a small nanoparticle. We are talking about units which are typically from 10 atoms up to a few thousand in number, and are typically spherical- or near-planar and circular in the case of semiconductors. Since the "hole" - by definition - may be a positron (although in typical semiconductor situations it is not seen) this possibility offers a pathway for extreme energy levels in certain situations (other than semiconductors). There is also a pronounced near-field charge bias to the nanoparticle - which is almost always a negative charge - and there can be extreme magnetism- the so-called GMR, or Giant Magnetoresistance. The most interesting thing about this merger (nano-merger so to speak) - which is on the horizon, between semiconductor technology and alternative energy applications - is that perhaps the main simple and single ingredient which needs to be added into the mix to make it "on dmenad" is the bosonic state. This makes the field look like "Fire from Ice" in a way that Gene Mallove could never have fully appreciated just a few years ago. However, it should be noted that Robert Forward had put forth the ironic situation for cryogenics and energy- and foresaw that the prospect of using LENR as an energy source and achieving really robust LENR on demand may likely require cryogenic temperatures (to increase the statistical probablility of attaining even transitory BEC states in reactants). Wait a minute you say ! Doesn't that requirement immediately make it hopeless as an energy source? After all, if we must expend 10kW to keep a LENR cell cold enough to be really active - by removing all of its excess heat and then some - then how on earth is will an effective net energy balance ever take place? There is a good answer for that - to follow, and it does not require keeping a cell cold, per se - but to understand the line of reasoning, one must appreciate that 'coldness' itself is relative. A very cold exciton, which appears to be moving very fast in our frame of reference can still be a condensate at cryogenic temperatures in its own frame of reference - up until the time that those two frames merge together. As you may be guessing by now, the only way to pull this off is in an inertial confinement arrangement; and with an accelerated exciton as the "fuel" which attains its own frame-of-refernce, independent of the target, for brief time span. It is probably coincidental to some degree that the field of LENR is being classified these days as "condensed matter" physics - when in that instance they are NOT referring to the same kind of "condensate" i.e. the BEC which may be needed for this hypothesis. More later, Jones
