No it wouldn't be, but even with my limited QM skills, I know that fortunately you don't have to get that close for nuclear fusion. Nucleus is fm scale (10^-15 m), but its De Broglie wavelength (roughly the distance at which tunneling can start occurring) at even room temperature thermal energy is quite sizeable, 0.78 Å IIRC, about 100000 times larger, and even more at higher energies of course.
So an impinging deuteron getting only as close as say 0.5 Å from the desorbing deuteron would have good chances to tunnel to it and fuse I think, correct me someone if I am wrong. I am not sure yet that Mr Incident can get as close to Mr Desorbing thanks to acceleration and screening by Mr Incident's image charge (virtual Mrs Incident?), but it certainly seems more doable than getting 100000 times closer! Michel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harry Veeder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 8:02 AM Subject: Re: [Vo]:Re: HUP-spread-out electron "feels" (and thusCoulomb-screens?) like a point charge... > hmmm...at the scale of the nucleus the surface of the cathode is not a > monolithic structure like the plate in the diagram... so in reality would > the image charge be as localised as the one depicted in the diagram? > > harry > > On 21/4/2008 6:32 PM, Michel Jullian wrote: > >> Not really a point charge of course. I meant a highly localized charge such >> as >> that of a nucleus, by opposition to the widely spread-out charge of an >> electron (due to the quantum uncertainty of its position). >> >> For most purposes, slow and massive nuclei can be treated as classical point >> charges, whereas fast moving lightweight electrons require quantum treatment >> and are best considered as charge density. >> >> What I find interesting in the case of an approaching nucleus's image charge >> is that the fast fuzzy induced surface electron "synthesizes" the slow highly >> localized _look and feel_ of a symmetrical "virtual negative nucleus" inside >> the cathode, coming to meet the nucleus at the time and place of impact. If >> an >> actual deuteron desorbs there at the same time... guess what can happen? ;-) >> >> Michel >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Harry Veeder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: <vortex-l@eskimo.com> >> Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 10:13 PM >> Subject: Re: [Vo]:HUP-spread-out electron "feels" (and thus Coulomb-screens?) >> like a point charge... >> >> >>> Even within classical physics the existence of a point charge is >>> problematic. >>> (as well as point masses.) Do you mean charge density at a point? >>> >>> Harry >>> >>> On 20/4/2008 6:49 AM, Michel Jullian wrote: >>> >>> (HUP = Heinsenberg's Uncertainty Principle). >>> >>> Back to my DIESECF (Desorbing vs Incident Excess Surface Electron Catalyzed >>> Fusion) speculation for a moment, forwarding a post I made to the CMNS group >>> today, in response to a sensible objection by X (names hidden). >>> >>> Michel >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: Michel Jullian <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> Cc: X >>> Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 11:56 AM >>> Subject: CMNS: Re: Question to X (was Re: Apples and Oranges) >>> >>> Thanks for your reply X. >>> >>> Y made the same very sensible objection some time ago. My lame response at >>> the time was: "if screening occurs, it has to be at the negatively charged >>> cathode surface, there is no better place... something must escape us in the >>> physics". >>> >>> And then the other day I discovered the image charge concept. It does >>> provide a mechanism whereby the (induced) lightweight fast moving -e (single >>> electron charge) spread out all over the place, as illustrated by the minus >>> signs on the cathode surface in Feynman's figure below (Lectures on Physics >>> vol.2 p. 6-9)... >>> >>> >>> ..."conspires" to be perceived by the (inducing) +e charged incident >>> hydrogen ion ("+" ball on the right), and by the rest of the world on the >>> same side of the cathode, as a mirror image (and, as such, equally punctual >>> and slow moving) -e charge ("-" ball on the left) >>> >>> This tentatively suggests that there is no QM law preventing a properly >>> uncertainty-spread electron to _look like_ a classical point charge... does >>> this make any sense? >>> >>> Michel >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: X >>> To: "CMNS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 4:13 PM >>> Subject: CMNS: Re: Question to X (was Re: Apples and Oranges) >>> >>> ... >>>>> Do you think that Coulomb screening by the negative surface charge induced >>>>> by >>> an impinging deuteron (electrostatically equivalent to a mirror image -e >>> charge as discussed recently) can significantly improve its chances to fuse >>> with a simultaneously desorbing deuteron, wrt to chances when both are >>> inside or outside the cathode? >>>>> >>>> [snip] the screening electrons being very light will be >>>> spread out a lot through quantum uncertainty so it will not work very >>>> well >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >
