In reply to David Roberson's message of Fri, 24 May 2013 23:42:18 -0400 (EDT): Hi, [snip] >So, my ultimate desire is to understand exactly how excess energy is stored >within a nucleus. A single proton does not have the ability to perform that >function under normal conditions. When fusion occurs, gammas are emitted by >some mechanism from the nuclear energy storage process. Classical ideas would >suggest that the energy might be stored in a process somewhat like that of a >pair of balls connected by a spring which in this case would simulate the >strong force.
The fact that nuclei often have neutron cross sections with sharp peaks in the energy of the neutron, hints IMO that nuclei have rigid structures. However much like a box of apples, different arrangements are possible. Each different arrangement has its own energy level, but there is a (slight) barrier to overcome in changing between arrangements, e.g. an apple, once having settled into the dip between other apples needs a slight nudge to get it over it's nearest neighbor into the next dip. The ZPE can however provide the energy required to push a nucleon into the next "dip", provided that in so doing the nucleus reaches a lower energy level such that the loan from the Bank of Heisenberg is rapidly repaid. Perhaps more accurately, if there is no lower position, then the "apple" simply roles back to it's original spot, returning the borrowed energy during the process. When a neutron from outside enters the nucleus, many other "apples" get shifted around, and it takes a while for them all to settle down again, each shift releasing a gamma photon. [snip] >I ask these somewhat silly sounding questions because it frequently occurs >that a proposed reaction is questioned because of a concern for the >conservation of energy and momentum during the fusion process. I seek a way >to buy time during the event which might be used to slowly absorb the high >level of energy that is ultimately released by fusion. You won't be buying much time. Particle emission usually happens in about 1E-23 seconds, and gamma emission on the order of about 1E-17 seconds, except when a so called "meta-stable" state is achieved. > >For instance, a two body collision can always be shown to conserve momentum >and energy as long as no energy is released during the collision and they >remain attached. Then, the trick is to figure out how to extract that excess >energy without significantly upsetting the center of mass of the initial pair. > If the energy can be taken over a long enough period of time, then >interesting things happen. Indeed "if". > >Another question is why can't a proton have additional mass that exists in the >form of kinetic energy of its constituent quarks? I guess this is equivalent >of asking whether or not a proton can have a temperature. :-) Only when it has a fever. ;) Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
