In reply to Jones Beene's message of Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:47:50 -0700: Hi, >You are making an incorrect assumption. The O-P effect (i.e. "stripping") is >not thermonuclear, it is quantum mechanical - in effect a tunneling >reaction. Quantum tunneling is one of Oppenheimer's claims to fame.
To be fair Jones, you were not exactly clear in your original post. The bottom line is that stripping can only happen when one half or the other of the D nucleus is absorbed by the target nucleus. Part of the energy liberated by the absorption (usually around 3-8 MeV) is used to pry apart the original D nucleus. It could also be seen as absorption of the entire D nucleus, followed by emission of either a proton or a neutron, though I doubt that's the way it works. More likely that the neutron migrates to the target nucleus (most of the time), and at least part of the energy liberated by this event is carried away by the now lone proton. > > > >In the Fusor, the transmuted nucleus is left in an energy state as if it had >fused with a neutron of negative kinetic energy, so there far less mass >change than the thermonuclear reaction. One would expect there to be 2.2 MeV less energy than from the absorption of a bare neutron, since 2.2 MeV is required to break apart the D nucleus. [snip] Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
