Chemo-Nucleonics?
sanman
http://www.physicsweb.org/articles/news/8/9/12/1
C60 can accelerate radioactive processes in an encapsulated atom! More
on this later...
Meanwhile, comments?
G. R. L. Cowan
Electron capture can be minutely accelerated.
Negative beta decay -- the production of an electron
and an antineutrino *within* the nucleus --
does not depend on particles outside the nucleus at all,
so cannot be influenced by C60 encapsulation,
nor by any chemistry.
--- Graham Cowan
http://www.eagle.ca/~gcowan/Paper_for_11th_CHC.doc --
How individual mobility gains nuclear cachet
sanman
> sanman wrote:
> >
> > Hey, this is one to check out:
> >
> > http://www.physicsweb.org/articles/news/8/9/12/1
> >
> > C60 can accelerate radioactive processes in an encapsulated atom! More
> > on this later...
> >
> > Meanwhile, comments?
>
> Electron capture can be minutely accelerated.
> Negative beta decay -- the production of an electron
> and an antineutrino *within* the nucleus --
> does not depend on particles outside the nucleus at all,
> so cannot be influenced by C60 encapsulation,
> nor by any chemistry.
Hi Graham, so you're saying that the reported accelerated decay rate
is entirely due to enhanced electron capture for the nucleus?
What about effects of greater electron charge concentration and
proximity to nucleus?
I had posted conjecturally about this before, regarding effect of C60
encapsulation of a heavy atom. What I also thought was that a
multi-layered buckyonion might produce an even greater effect than a
buckyball. Since the graphene layers of the buckyonion would provide
delocalized electrons, it might be possible to have radial
polarization of the buckyonion, resulting in even greater electronic
charge concentration around the nucleus. Since the outer surface area
of the buckyonion is greater than the surface area of its inner
cavity, I'd imagine that even a sort of "hydraulic compression" effect
could be achieved, in regards to squeezing electronic charge into that
inner cavity.
Also, since the layers of the bucky onion can be varied, this would
allow for further tunability/scalability.
Still, the idea of the electronic/chemical world affecting nuclear
decay in a signficant way seems like a breakthrough. Could it be used
to affect nuclear isomers, for example? Remember that nuclear isomers
are being investigated as possible high energy density materials.
Comments, please?
Dan Bloomquist
sanman wrote:
>
>
> Hi Graham, so you're saying that the reported accelerated decay rate
> is entirely due to enhanced electron capture for the nucleus?
> What about effects of greater electron charge concentration and
> proximity to nucleus?
>
> I had posted conjecturally about this before, regarding effect of C60
> encapsulation of a heavy atom. What I also thought was that a
> multi-layered buckyonion might produce an even greater effect than a
> buckyball. Since the graphene layers of the buckyonion would provide
> delocalized electrons, it might be possible to have radial
> polarization of the buckyonion, resulting in even greater electronic
> charge concentration around the nucleus. Since the outer surface area
> of the buckyonion is greater than the surface area of its inner
> cavity, I'd imagine that even a sort of "hydraulic compression" effect
> could be achieved, in regards to squeezing electronic charge into that
> inner cavity.
>
> Also, since the layers of the bucky onion can be varied, this would
> allow for further tunability/scalability.
>
> Still, the idea of the electronic/chemical world affecting nuclear
> decay in a signficant way seems like a breakthrough. Could it be used
> to affect nuclear isomers, for example? Remember that nuclear isomers
> are being investigated as possible high energy density materials.
>
> Comments, please?
You are good!
But, this is still an electronic compression resulting in nuclear
reaction. Like Graham said...
Best, Dan.
--
http://lakeweb.net
http://ReserveAnalyst.com
No EXTRA stuff for email.
sanman
Hiya Dan,
Okay fair enough, the electrons can't really expect to be directly
participating species in a nuclear reaction. But electrons exert their
Coulombic attractive force on the protons, and so therefore if you're
packing unprecedented amounts of electronic charge more closely to the
nucleus, shouldn't their attractive force be able to minutely "loosen
up" those protons in some miniscule way? The reported figure of 1%
acceleration still doesn't tell us the mechanism by which this
accelerated radioactive decay is occurring, but intuitively one might
think that packing more charge in more closely to the nucleus would
increase the acceleration effect, even if only by a small amount.
That same Coulomb's Law that makes fusion so difficult when you get
the repulsive hydrogen nuclei so close together, would make the
electrons more attractive on the protons as they get closer to the
nucleus.