In an earlier post I speculated on the possibility of a current of electrons flowing along a hollow, superconducting wire inducing a current of protons within the wire (via Lenz's law, although I did not know that this was what I was invoking). I have since read descriptions to the effect that the magnetic field at the center of a hollow wire with current flowing along it will be zero. Another complexity is that there are two types of superconductors -- in type I superconductors, magnetic fields are expelled (the superconductor is diamagnetic); in type II superconductors, the ones that reach higher temperatures, there is an effect called the paramagnetic Meissner effect, which causes a superconductor to be permeable to magnetism within limits of field strength. It is not clear from this detail how the feasibility of such a current of protons would be affected, but the possibility of zero magnetic field is a strike against it.
There are, however, two other effects that can be considered -- the theta-pinch and z-pinch effects. Theta-pinch confinement of a plasma comes about when current flows around the circumference of the confining volume. One individual speculated on the possibility of using theta-pinch confinement of a plasma to generate D+T fusion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thet_pinch.png http://lofi.forum.physorg.com/Fusion-By-Large-Linear-Theta-Pinch_18508.html That does not obviously lend itself to the kinds of geometries we might speculate to exist in the nuclear active environment. However, there is also the z-pinch effect, which appears to have been used to crush cans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Z_pinch.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinch_(plasma_physics)#Crushing_cans_with_the_pinch_effect I wonder whether a large enough current could cause a current carrying nanowire to implode, compressing the contents as it does. Eric
