397 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
397 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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files on KeelyNet!
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May 5, 1991
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COLDFUS2.ASC
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This file courteously supplied to KeelyNet by Mike Vest.
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The following was taken off of the National Science Echo from
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Fidonet. Someone should call Mills Technology, and see if we can
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get their paper now.. Onward, Resonant Warriors... Mike Vest
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Cold Fusion Lecture - broad new theory
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WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Two physicists said Thursday they had developed
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a theory that could explain some of the puzzling phenomena
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persistently produced by disputed ``cold fusion'' experiments.
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The experiments did not produce excess energy through nuclear
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fusion, but instead by a new type of nuclear reaction that
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scientists say could possibly harness to produce power, said
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Michigan physicists Frederick Mayer and John Reitz.
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The reaction may result from production of a new type of particle
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dubbed a ``hydron,'' which could interract with metal to produce a
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nuclear reaction at room temperature, they said.
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The pair described the theory at a news conference in Boston, one
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day after presenting a paper published in the Journal of Fusion
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Technology at a seminar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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in Cambridge, Mass.
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Lawrence Lidsky, a nuclear engineer at MIT who attended the seminar,
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said the theory was interesting but needed to be confirmed by
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experiments.
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'`Nobody ran out of the room screaming, 'He's got it,''' Lidsky
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said. ``It's interesting but the theory makes a lot of assumptions
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and requires several leaps of faith.''
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One of the appealing aspects of the theory, however, is that it
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should be able to be tested fairly easily, he said.
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``There are some nifty tests that could be done to see if the theory
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is correct or not that should be fairly definitive,'' he said.
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Meanwhile, Mills Technologies of Lancaster, Pa., (see COLDFUS1.ZIP
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on KeelyNet) also held a news conference Thursday to claim the
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``cold fusion'' results were actually from a non-nuclear reaction
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Page 1
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that produces energy through the contraction of hydrogen atoms.
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Company president Randell Mills said Fusion Technology had agreed to
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publish a paper describing his work, which would be presented at a
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meeting of the American Chemical Society in New York in August.
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Chemists B. Stanley Pons and Norman Fleischmann created a worldwide
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uproar in 1989 when they announced that they had produced nuclear
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fusion in a simple experiment at room temperature at the University
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of Utah.
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Scientists had thought enormous pressure and very high temperatures
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would be needed to produce fusion -- the reaction that powers the
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sun that researchers have been trying to harness as an energy
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source.
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Pons and Fleischmann's claims largely have been discredited. But
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some scientists have continued to report detecting hints of a
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possible nuclear reaction produced by the experiments that they
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could not explain.
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Pons and Fleischmann's experiment involved running electricity
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through jars containing rods made of the metal palladium and a form
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of water that has an extra hydrogen atom.
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The pair theorized the electrical current drove deuterium atoms in
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the water into the palladium until the deuterium became so tightly
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packed the atoms fused -- releasing excess energy.
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In the new theory, deuterium could react with metals like palladium
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to form unstable neutral particles dubbed ``hydrons,'' which then
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could react with the palladium in a nuclear reaction that produces
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excess heat.
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``What he's saying is people were looking for the wrong reaction.
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It's not a form of fusion but a form of nuclear reaction,'' Lidsky
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said.
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``If it were true, it would explain a number of phenomena that are
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puzzling,'' he said, adding: ``Can you use this to make power? Lord
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knows.'' Mayer is president of Mayer Applied Research Inc. in Ann
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Arbor.
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Reitz is an Ann Arbor consultant who taught physics at Case Western
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Reserve University from 1954 to 1965.
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Cold Fusion Lecture
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broad new theory Theory Suggests Cold Fusion May Be Real
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by John Travis
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Perhaps rewakening a controversy which stunned the world over two
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years ago, a Michigan physicist yesterday at MIT presented a broad
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new theory that may explain the sporadic and puzzling results of
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cold fusion experiments, as well addressing other intriguing
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problems such as excess planetary heat and the presence of tritium
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in volcanic emissions.
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Page 2
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In 1989, two Utah chemists shocked the scientific community with
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their announcement of room-temperature fusion-in-a-bottle.
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Attempts to duplicate the experiment proved largely unsuccessful,
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prompting most researchers to dimiss the original report and the few
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others that followed as incorrect. Still, in the face of strong
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skepticism and even disdain from the majority of physicists, a small
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band of believers have continued to experiment and have reported
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some unusual results.
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Speaking before a small audience at a lecture sponsored by MIT's
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Laboratory for Nuclear Science, Dr. Frederic J. Mayer, a plasma
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physicist with his own company in Ann Arbor, MI, detailed a paper,
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appearing in next month's issue of Fusion Technology, that attempts
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to explain the experimental inconsistencies that have been observed
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over the past 24 months.
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Fusion, the process which powers the sun, has a number of
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established pathways, the most common being the collison of two
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hydrogen atoms which produces a helium atom and a burst of energy,
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However, this new theory bypasses fusion reactions and proposes a
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novel energy-producing nuclear reaction that involves a new class of
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atomic particles not yet directly detected.
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Mayer's paper, co-authored with theoretical physicist Dr. John R.
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Reitz, suggests that the excess heat and other nuclear products
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detected in various cold fusion experiments are not the result of
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fusion, but instead a reaction involving an isotope switch.
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Isotopes are atoms that are chemically identical, but have different
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numbers of neutrons. For example, carbon has a number of isotopes.
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A carbon atom may have up to twelve or more neutrons in its various
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isotopic forms.
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An isotope that is stripped of a neutron, or picks ups one, can
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often release energy. These reactions, which Mayer calls Resonant
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Direct Nuclear Reactions, may be the explanation for the cold fusion
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phenomenon, according to the new theory.
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There are a number of these isotope reactions, many of them occuring
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in metals that have been accused of contaminating cold fusion
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experiments. Since the level of contamination can vary widely, Mayer
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suggests this may be one explanation for the irreproducibity of many
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experiments.
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"The primary nuclear actions are not the conventional d-d fusion
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reactions, but are RDNRs," Mayer told the gathered audience, "The
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contaminants are driving the system."
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Mayer divides the RDNRs into two categories, tritium producers and
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tritium consumers. Tritium is an extremely rare isotope of the
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hydrogen atom which normally has a single proton.
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(An isotope is one of two or more nuclides that have the same
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number of protons in their nuclei.
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Atomic hydrogen has one electron and one proton, the two
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"normal" isotopes of hydrogen are Deuterium (mass number 2,
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Page 3
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also known as HEAVY WATER) and Tritium (mass number
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3 and radiocative)......Vangard)
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Tritium, in addition to the positively charged proton, has two extra
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neutrons in the nucleus and has been accused of being another
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contaminant in the experiments.
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In Mayer's isotope switch, tritium is converted to deuterium,
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another form of hydrogen that has a single neutron plus the proton,
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or vice-versa.
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When tritium is transformed into deuterium, a freed neutron is
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available for a metal atom, creating two isotope switches overall.
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The metal, perhaps platinum or uranium, can also lose a neutron,
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allowing a deuterium atom to be converted to tritium. It is the
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isotope switch in the metals that release the excess energy.
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While the process appears simple and obvious, there is an obstacle
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most physicists thought prevented such nuclear reactions--the
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Coulomb barrier.
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This barrier is similar to the repulsion that magnets can have with
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each other and occurs when particles of similar charge are brought
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together. The tritium, or deuterium, must be very close to the metal
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atoms before they can trade neutrons.
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Yet, the positive proton is repulsed by the large number of
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similarly charged protons in the metal atoms and the reactions are
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prevented from occuring.
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But, as Mayer explains in the most controversial part of the new
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theory, the proton in the the tritium or deuterium can be
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neutralized, which allows the atoms to evade the Coulomb barrier and
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procede with their resonant direct nuclear reactions (RDNRs).
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To perform this magic, Mayer and Reitz have theorized a new class of
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particles they call "hydrons" or virtual particles (the second name
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is avoided since it has been used for other atomic particles as
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well).
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According to Mayer, a hydron is an unstable, compact neutral
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particle that sometimes occurs when an electron interacts with a
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proton.
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In effect, the electron and proton cancel each other out, creating a
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"virtual" neutron. If the proton in tritium can be neutralized in
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this way, the Coulumb barrier would no longer be an impediment and
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the nuclear reactions would occur.
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However, these hydrons have not been directly observed and many in
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the audience were unconvinced that such a proton-electron
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interaction could exist. Mayer could offer only indirect evidence
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for the hydrons, but pointed out they provided the best explanation
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for the variety of experimental data.
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"Small compact objects that are neutral appear from the data to be
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present in nature," said Mayer, "A compact object like this could
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solve a lot of problems."
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Page 4
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The absence of certain helium isotopes and gamma radiation have been
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key arguments against cold fusion proponents, since the two are
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typically produced in the accepted fusion pathways.
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However, the new theory offers numerous routes in which no radiation
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would be expected, and none of the reactions would produce helium.
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This fact may help solve another, older mystery involving the Earth
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itself. Only about half of the earth's interior energy, geothermal
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heat, can be accounted for from measurements of helium.
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Mayer suggested these new reactions may account for the extra heat,
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as well as explaining why the ratio of helium isotopes is different
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for geothermal gases than the ratio found in the galaxy. Jupiter,
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which emits twice as much heat as can be explained presently, is
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another area where hydrons may be involved.
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Observations of volcanic emissions have also been found to have
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large anounts of tritium, more than can be explained from the normal
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fusion rate at the volcanoe's temperature. Tritium-producing RDNRs
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may explain the excess, according to Mayer.
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The broad scope of the theory is one the reasons it is so
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attractive, said Mayer. It is not just limited to explaining cold
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fusion phenomenon, but many other scientific puzzles.
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In fact, the strongest evidence for the new theory may come from
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other fusion experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
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Scientists there are studying a process known as Cluster Impact
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Fusion in which they shoot deuterium atoms at titanium foil. Charged
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particles measured during the experiment appear to match one of the
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isotope reactions proposed by Mayer and Reitz.
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Another puzzle that may back-up the new theory is the diffusivity of
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hydrogen into metals. This is a well-recognized problem that
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embrittles the metals.
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The hydrons, in addition to being neutral, would be extremely small
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and could seep into metals much more effectively than similar atoms
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like oxygen or nitrogen. Since the hydrons are short-lived, they
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would convert back ("go normal" in Mayer's words) taking up a larger
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volume. And since the hydrons are now inside the metal, this
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increase could cause cracking, a possible explanation for the
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metal's brittleness.
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Mayer's audience at the lecture included Peter Hagelstein, a
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theoretician at MIT who had provided one of the first possible
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explanations for cold fusion almost two years ago.
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While intrigued with the new theory, Hagelstein was not yet
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persuaded that hydrons could exist. The mathematical proof of them
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would be difficult, he said.
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Mayer agreed but pointed out one of the benefits of the hydron
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explanation was a number of obvious experimental tests that could be
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done to either support or contradict the theory. Repeating some of
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the cold fusion experiments, with deliberate and controlled
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contamination of the metals, would be an excellent start, according
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to Mayer.
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Page 5
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Concluding his lecture, Mayer answered what he said was the most
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obvious question -- does the theory suggest a large scale nuclear
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energy source. While refusing to speculate on the actual method,
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Mayer simply responded, "I think there is."
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If you have comments or other information relating to such topics
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as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the
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Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page.
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Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.
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Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
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Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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If we can be of service, you may contact
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Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346
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Page 6
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