In reply to Jones Beene's message of Sun, 18 Jan 2015 09:38:26 -0800: Hi, [snip] >The mass-energy of the displacement hole for lithium++ is measured at ~81 >eV, which is a decent fit for the 3 x 27.2 = 81.6 eV (which is the exact >Rydberg multiple). In short, lithium is better than a 99% fit as a Mills >catalyst. But BLP has not been able to pull off this kind of simple robust >experiment with lithium - despite the two decade head start.
When LiAlH4 decomposes, the H- gives it's excess electron back to the metals. That results in the formation of a Li atom and H atoms essentially from the same molecule, i.e. in close proximity. This is the ideal condition for catalysis of the shrinkage reaction. I pointed this out to Mills years ago (with regard to the thermal decomposition of KH). Furthermore, the "m" of Li is 3 (as Jones pointed out) which facilitates a shrinkage from p=1 (i.e. the ground state) directly to p=4, implying that there should be lots of H[n=1/4] formed. The binding energy (proper usage) of LiHy4- (i.e. a tetrahedron comprising 4 H[n=1/4]- ions and a central Li3+ nucleus) is -193 eV, so there is a strong "incentive" for this object to form. (See http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/LiHy4-.pdf) Once formed, it carries an excess negative charge, and hence is attracted to other nuclei, facilitating nuclear reactions, because of it's small size, which allows it to get closer than normal to said nuclei. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
