On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 9:38 PM, Alan Fletcher <a...@well.com> wrote:
> Absolutely! Widom-Larsen (where an electron combines with a Proton to > form a Neutron and a Neutrino). > has a critical mass, similar to the Coulomb barrier for regular fusion. > Actually, it's about 10 times higher. And it's an *energy* barrier, just like fusion, too. WL like to call it a heavy electron to obscure the fact that you have to concentrate 780 MeV of energy in a single atomic site to produce electron capture. Since this reaction is endothermic, there is no possibility of tunneling through it; the energy has to be supplied. In the case of d-d fusion, reaction probability becomes useful below 100 keV, because that reaction is exothermic, and so tunneling is possible. > The muon:proton has enough mass, and is known to happen. > But electron:proton doesn't --WL proposes one method of getting an > effective electron mass. > I don't see the comparison to muon-catalyzed fusion. In muon catalyzed fusion the muon replaces an electron in hydrogen, and since its average distance from the nucleus is much smaller, it shields the charge of the nucleus more effectively, allowing closer approach between nuclei to improve the probability for fusion. WL propose that the heavy (energetic) electron is captured by the nucleus (proton), so the resulting neutron is captured by another nucleus. It's a rather different process.
