Horace
> The half-life of potassium 40 is 1.3 billion years... It is not logical to > expect a cavity effect to cause any detectable change in the amount of 40K. Yes, we would be looking for a dramatic change in the decay rate as measured in the average microrem per hour, or whatever, but "dramatic" or logical is not the problem - it is even less logical to expect the drastic changes which have been claimed in such things as thorium remediation. In either case, if there was pronounced time dilation at the Casimir geomtery - it could be extreme - not gradual. Admittedly, the operative word there for thorium is "claimed". But speaking of the Barker patents, which is a situation of high electrostatic voltage containment = a few of those claims were for changes on the order of 10^6 in decay rates ... and I am convinced they are accurate, from personal work I have done. I would not hesitate to give 40K a shot, if I were in Fran's shoes and thought it would help to validate the theory - but sure, if other isotopes with shorter half-lives are available, and can be placed in cavities as easily as by vacuum melting - then go for it ... why not. Then there is always the tactic of cannibalizing your smoke detector ;-) Jones
