The proton-proton chain reaction on the sun is mostly “reversible fusion”. P+P <-> H2
It has been posted here many times that the strong force is overwhelming at close range - and will bring too protons together , despite Pauli. But almost always the He2 nucleus which forms then immediately breaks up. Thus, 99.99+ % of all fusion reactions, on all stars in the Universe, can be said to be reversible, and do not produce much energy. The bigger question for NiH is this: does reversible proton fusion produce any net energy? The currently favored model for solar fusion says NO. He2 does form from the interaction however, and it disappear rapidly - but ever so often there is a beta decay. Only one reversible reaction in 10^20 proceeds to beta decay. Thus the solar model is not compatible with Ni-H. Ed Storms clearly states that he is suggesting a novel form of this reaction - mediated by another particle such as an electron, deflated electron or so on. He is aware of the rarity of the beta decay. There is another hypothesis, or model, which I’ve been airing for about 6 months. It can operate along side of other models or alone. It suggests that proton reversible fusion does produce a small amount of heat due to QCD “color change”. The mass of the proton is slightly reduced in the process. That solves many theoretical problems, but admittedly there is no proof (unless NiH is the proof). The proton - in this model is not quantized. Its “known mass” is an average mass, and can vary slightly up or down from average. In addition to shedding small amounts of energy via QCD, depleted protons can also capture small amounts of mass-energy via free electrons on the sun, under gravity compression. This energy transfer in either case comes from QM - spin transfer via magnons. The mediating quasi-particle for this process is the magnon. That is important for NiH. If nickel were not ferromagnetic, there would probably be no energy transfer from reversible fusion. Before you ask – yes palladium is ferromagnetic in alloy form, and as a hydride: http://cpb.iphy.ac.cn/EN/abstract/abstract25888.shtml From: Eric Walker Chuck Sites wrote: The proton-proton chain reaction is initiated with a strong interaction between two protons, that binds to form a diproton, the diproton then decays via weak interaction (a W boson) into a deuteron + electron + electron neutrino and 0.42 MeV of energy. Wikipedia has a very good description of this processes: The proton-proton chain does seem promising at first, especially when one takes into account some of the difficulties with the kind of activation that would occur if there were a lot of neutron-moderated reactions. But the proton-proton chain has its own difficulties. See [1], below, for an earlier discussion. Briefly, the diproton lasts for a vanishingly small amount of time before it breaks up. Only a very small fraction of diprotons go on to form deuterium; in the sun, this process is a limiting one that prevents it from rapidly burning through its fuel. In known cases, the rate of deuterium formation is small because the weak force requires that a very high energy barrier be surpassed before a proton will convert to a neutron. Widom and Larsen have other ideas on this particular point, and it is part of what makes their writings difficult for physicist types (of which I am not one) to get a handle on. See also the comments to this physics.SE question for more details [2]. I believe Ed Storms proposes an alternate form of weak-force moderated nuclear reaction, along the lines of a slow p-e-p reaction, and I would assume that similar difficulties must be addressed in this instance as well. Assuming the weak interaction really does provide a limiting barrier, any fusion-like reaction is presumably going to have to occur either through the action of deuterium or higher, on one hand, or through proton capture within a larger nucleus, on the other, unless a non-fusion reaction along the lines of what Jones or Mills describes is going on. Obviously there is also the matter of the Coulomb barrier, but I think we've gotten used to ignoring it for the sake of convenience. ;) Eric [1] http://www.mail-archive.com/vortex-l@eskimo.com/msg67691.html [2] http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/23640/what-interactions-would-take-place-between-a-free-proton-and-a-dipolariton
