I have been researching the cold fusion reaction that is suggested by Rossi and
Focardi in their recent paper
http://www.journal-of-nuclear-physics.com/files/Rossi-Focardi_paper.pdf and
have a couple of questions. The authors suggest that 3.41 MeV of energy is
released by the fusion of a proton with a nickel 58 nucleus into copper 59. I
can obtain this value if I calculate the mass difference between a copper 59
atom and a nickel 58 atom plus the mass of the proton and the mass of the extra
electron.
So far their calculations are in line with mine. The problem arises when I
consider the amount of energy required to overcome the coulomb barrier in order
to activate the fusion. The two authors seem to overlook this entirely when
they calculate the energy available from their proposed reaction. The chart on
page 5 of their paper shows that 3.41 MeV is released at the conclusion to the
reaction but no allowance is given to the energy needed to initiate it.
They do mention the activation energy in their theoretical interpretation on
page 7. In this section they calculate that it takes 5.6 MeV to overcome the
barrier. The authors use assumed values for the closeness required and thus
energy barrier in their example.
With these two numbers available I make the assumption that there is a net
energy requirement of 5.6 MeV – 3.41 MeV or 2.19 MeV for the fusion. Is there
a reason that my calculation is in error? Does the 3.41 MeV have hidden within
it the activation energy? I can see no good reason to suspect that this is the
case since it would be possible for a device to send high speed protons into a
target made of copper.
The copper would then shed the 3.41 MeV by some means and that would obviously
not repay the debt. Of course I understand that the following beta plus decay
would release an additional significant amount of energy as the copper
transforms into nickel 59. I calculate this energy as 5.8 MeV when the
released positron is annihilated. This value matches that of the two authors
which I assume is correct.
A recap of the question is: Is the fusion of nickel 58 with a proton and
electron into copper 59 an endothermic reaction?
Dave
