Talk-Polywell.org

WizWom wrote:Me. That's why I was looking at the program.

WizWom wrote:.....

Egle, a recent graduate under Kulcinski, presented "Results frm the Six Ion Gun Fusion Experiment." The 300kV energies they reached managed to match up with Hirsch's results quite well - but only when they used unfocused ion guns. Detailed investigation of fusion regions showed only 2% of fusions occurring at the intersection, the majority occurring at the wall. This implies that up-scattered deuterium ions were hitting previously neutralized ions stuck to the anode. (Up-scattered only, since the coulomb barrier for D-D fusion is 480keV).......

D Tibbets wrote:

WizWom wrote:.....

Egle, a recent graduate under Kulcinski, presented "Results frm the Six Ion Gun Fusion Experiment." The 300kV energies they reached managed to match up with Hirsch's results quite well - but only when they used unfocused ion guns. Detailed investigation of fusion regions showed only 2% of fusions occurring at the intersection, the majority occurring at the wall. This implies that up-scattered deuterium ions were hitting previously neutralized ions stuck to the anode. (Up-scattered only, since the coulomb barrier for D-D fusion is 480keV).......

I don't have the credentials to speak with any authority, but I have a gut feeling from the little I have read, that the conclusions presented need to be considered carefully.
As for the coulomb barrier being at 480 KeV, that may be correct, but it ignores the quantum uncertainty, that allows profuse D-D fusions at much lower energies (like 10 KeV, or energies of ~ 30-60 KeV for the good amateur fusors).

PLASMA PHYSICS AND
FUSION ENERGY
Jeffrey P. Freidberg
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2007

From pages 48-49

"The classical picture of the dependence of σ on v, or equivalently Kcm, is illustrated in Fig. 3.8. The crucial feature is the hard barrier at 288 keV," [referring to D-T fusion] "a quite high value. Any particle with a lower energy will not undergo a nuclear fusion collision. As compared to the actual situation, this is a pessimistic result.
Nuclear quantum mechanical effects The correct cross section for fusion collisions involves nuclear quantum mechanical effects. The reason is that the region of strongest nuclear interactions occurs on the scale length of the nucleus. On such small-scale lengths classical physics does not apply and it is necessary to include nuclear quantum mechanical effects. The most important effect is that on nuclear scale lengths nuclei exhibit both particle like and wavelike properties. The wavelike properties introduce three qualitatively new modifications to the simple classical hard-sphere model.

First, in the quantum mechanical regime, the “tunneling effect” is present. A simple example of tunneling occurs when a sound wave is reflected off an insulating acoustic tile. Even if the insulator is perfectly lossless, sound waves still penetrate into the material, although with exponentially decreasing amplitude. If the tile is thin enough some sound energy will emerge from the back of the insulator; energy will have “tunneled” its way through. In terms of the cross section, “tunneling” is equivalent to barrier penetration. In other words, even for kinetic energies below the Coulomb cutoff, there is still a finite probability of interaction. The 288 keV is not a hard cutoff. Intuitively, the further below the cutoff, the lower is the probability of interaction.

The second wavelike effect is that at nuclear distances two nuclei can actually pass through one another. A nuclear reaction can thus be thought of as the interaction of two closely coupled waves. If the relative velocity of the particles (waves) is very large (i.e., Kcm 288 keV), the time available for a closely coupled interaction is very short, thereby reducing the probability of a fusion collision. Therefore the fusion cross section should decrease for large increasing relative velocities.

The final wavelike effect concerns the possibility of resonance. Under certain conditions of geometry and relative velocity the combined potential energies of the two colliding nuclei can exhibit a resonance. The net result is that under such conditions there is an enhanced probability of a nuclear reaction occurring, corresponding to an increased cross section. This is in fact the situation for the D–T interaction."

D Tibbets wrote:Wizworm. My 'gut' feeling was referring to the conclusion that the experment indicated beam target fusion. My statement about the classical fusion crossection needing to be modified by quantum mechanics is based on the following Text.

Essentially all nuclear fusion ....... seen in solar and terrestrial fusions is down to quantum tunnelling,