In reply to Axil Axil's message of Tue, 3 Jul 2012 18:36:55 -0400: Hi, [snip] >Mixent states: > >IOW the fusion reactions themselves are delayed, not the relaxation. This >is to be expected as tunneling of the proton into the nucleus is a >statistical process. > >Axil states: > >If the nickel bar is cold enough to handle: to put into a cloud chamber, >the assumption is that the reaction has stopped and that the only thing >going on is the relaxation process after the reaction has terminated. > >In other words, the presence of heat implies that the reaction is on-going. >The lack of heat implies that the reaction has stopped. > >Of course, this cold condition of the bar is an assumption because no >details of how the reactor was disassembled and the cloud chamber was >loaded are given.
Indeed. A cloud chamber is a very sensitive instrument. A single particle leaves a track. In order to generate sensible heat you need billions of reactions per second. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html