If I understand you correctly, the process you speculate upon is quite similar to a normal ICE without an exhaust port. Heat is introduced into the working gas from the energy emitted by the alpha emitter. That heat causes an increase in the gas pressure that occurs due to the normal compression of the piston within the cylinder. Next, the piston is pushed outward to do mechanical work which is greater than the work required to compress that piston at the beginning of the cycle.
This type of cycle should work provided there is a cooling method that extracts the left over heat that is present at the end of the piston movement. Otherwise it seems that the system would continue to heat up. Maybe that is what happened to Papp's engine during that dangerous explosion event! It seems logical that the radiation energy required from the alpha source should add up to the mechanical energy extracted from the piston movement plus the heat absorbed by the cooling system that allows the device to operate. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Eric Walker <eric.wal...@gmail.com> To: vortex-l <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Tue, Oct 13, 2015 6:28 pm Subject: Re: [Vo]:Electron-mediated alpha decay in quasi-stable isotopes On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 1:58 PM, David Roberson <dlrober...@aol.com> wrote: We need a better understanding of exactly what happens to a gas which undergoes a rapid increased to particle numbers followed by a return to it initial composition in this type of environment. I was thinking in terms of an "adiabatic" system. Imagine the system is completely isolated from the external environment, and that there are reflective walls in the containment that reflect any radiated energy back to the engine. Here we have a closed system. In this case, it seems like the release of energy of the alpha emitter is efficiently transmitted into mechanical energy by way of the expanding ionized gas. Any increase in temperature as the gas recondenses will be smaller than the initial energy released by the alpha emitter when the decay was induced, as some of it will go to heating the motor. It is here that Robin's question becomes interesting (assuming I've understood it). If we work backwards from the work needed to move the piston through a cycle, we can ask, how much induced alpha activity is needed in order to provide the work for a full cycle, and how much alpha emitter would that imply? Is the scenario even realistic? Eric
