Pournelle: Jobs and climate View 2011090611

We live in interesting times.

How long, O Catiline, will you abuse our patience? And for how long will that madness of yours mock us? To what end will your unbridled audacity hurl itself? 

Perhaps you can look no further than the lack of sincerity in Obama.  We just had a budget deal, now he is said to want more spending.  Is a deal a deal, or what?

That's all for today.  Thanks for coming by.

About barns

Barns?  What does that have to do with LENR?

Barns is a unit of measurement of area, which is used to expressing the cross sectional area in nucleii and nuclear reactions.  This is relevant is judging the probability of a nuclear reaction, such as the ones calculated yesterday.

It appears that some of the reactions listed may not be likely.  Others may be more likely, like the one for cobalt.  That is summarize as nickel 58 to cobalt 59 to nickel 60.  This would appear to be a good candidate for a reaction sequence, if I am figuring this right.  Here is a periodic table of elements, in which you can find the "barns" for each element and isotopes.  The bigger the barn, the better the chance is that the critter will find its way into it.  ( As a manner of speaking)  You want larger numbers.  The smaller ones would indicate a smaller "barn".

This caught my attention because I got an idea that maybe you could slow down the neutrons and get these type of reaction sequences.  This is done in nuclear reactors with uranium ( or others) , but perhaps not with elements such as nickel ( so far as I know).  Has anyone tried it?  Well, this table implies that yes, it has been tried.  But what I mean is, did anyone try it with the intention to produce energy from it?  Or is it possible to do that?

If so, it is something like Widom Larsen's theory, but that theory requires ultra low momentum neutrons.  There may not be a handy way to get the neutrons to slow down enough for these type of reactions.  But if there was a way, you could have another way of getting the energy that you are looking for.

Update:
It seems that in 2004, Boffins at CalTech figured out a way to slow neutrons down to 15 mph.

Update:
 Cobalt 60 has been produced by slow neutrons already.  It takes a long time for it to decay.  Looks like it isn't useful for generating energy.  Shucks.

Update:
 I'm finding that Widom Larsen can't explain the E-cat.  The beta decays are not likely to yield the energy observed in any meaningful and useful timeframe.  These could take years to decay.  Energy production needs to take place in much shorter periods of time.  All of this is subject to error on my part, since I am not trained for this.  I'm going to think that this isn't a fruitful area of study.  That's my conclusion.

That leaves BECNF or some other theory.  Beta decays won't work.

Update:
Geez.  I'm making a mistake.  Okay, let's say it is still possible.

Houston Meat Market Has 1 Of Best Burgers

Want a great burger when you're in Houston? USA Today says this is one of the best.  Can't say that I've tried it, but I won't be.  On a low fat diet.

Video at the link.  No embed, so I can't put it up here.

WTF?

Drunken elk rescued from Swede's apple tree - The Local

Which reminds me, what would Sarah Palin say?



That video was most unkind to Palin, because she was right about the basics. The hatred though, just flames through it all. Never mind that Obama is said to be proposing another 300 billion stimulus. Again. WTF?

Rocket Scientist! How Humiliating!

He must have been thinking of this



It wasn't this, I suspect

Words mean things

That's what Rush Limbaugh said. Ok, if words mean things, let's get some words well defined:

1. fusion: 4. Physics A nuclear reaction in which nuclei combine to form more massive nuclei with the simultaneous release of energy.
2. cold fusion: A hypothetical form of nuclear fusion occurring without the use of extreme temperature or pressure

With these two definitions, let's apply them to the two theories that have been written about on this blog

1. BECNF
2. Widom Larsen

Let's start with BECNF.  Is it fusion?  The answer is YES, because

1. fusion is fulfilled because hydrogen combines with the nickel and 
2. the energy released is simultaneous.

Is it cold fusion?  YES, because there is no use of extreme temperature nor pressure.  The process by which the fusion takes place is a Bose Einstein condensate which occurs at a non extreme temperature.  Pressure is also non extreme since that is not required for the theoretical (in this case) Bose Einstein condensate to form.

Therefore, BECNF is a cold fusion theory, since it fulfills the requirements of the definition for cold fusion.  But what about Widom Larsen?  Is it fusion?  The answer is NO, because

1. Fusion is not fulfilled because the hydrogen (proton) becomes a neutron and a nucleus requires at least one proton, a lone neutron is not a nucleus.  Neutrons alone are unstable and beta decay within minutes.
2. The energy released is a beta decay, which may or not release energy simultaneously, most often NOT

Cold fusion doesn't apply either, because it isn't fusion in the first place.  Therefore, Widom Larsen is not a cold fusion theory.  The proper term is Low Energy Nuclear Reaction, which should distinguish it from cold fusion.  This may be considered only a semantic difference, but words do mean things- just trying to keep it straight.

Which theory applies to the E-cat?  There are many theories, not just these two.  Funny thing, one or more of these theories may be correct because there may be more than one mechanism at work.  As of this writing, I know of no theory that has been demonstrated to be true.  In fact, there isn't complete agreement that there is a phenomenon that needs to be described by a theory.  People seem to be arguing about whether or not any energy is being formed at all.  My impression is that there's something going on, but nothing has been decided on what that something is.

The Daily Ticker: And Now The US Postal Service Is About To Go Belly Up

You're Crazy!!!!

The amazing things people do in order to get attention.

Hey, it's San Francisco

Message to nudists: At least be sanitary

Supervisor Scott Wiener will introduce legislation today intended to get to the bottom of the gross-out factor when it comes to public nudity.

His proposal would require people who bare all for all to see to at the very least place a towel or like item underneath them when they sit down.

Yes, I can see the disgusting possibilities of not doing what the Supervisor proposes.  Geez.

 

Rice has made a cable from double-walled carbon nanotubes

and powered a light bulb

The big advantage is in the lighter weight. Spacecraft applications, anyone?

2012 Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger get 31 mpg thanks to 8-speed trans

AutoBlogGreen

That Highway mileage.  City mileage is 19.

That's a German automatic transmission licensed to be built in house.

What's bugging you?

Chasing Nature - Technology Review


It could be one of these.

Can a butterfly take a leak?

This one did.

Backin up song

Songifying the news.




Update:

Here's another - songified news item, that is.

Another broken promise?

What happened to all this new civility that we were supposed to get from the President?  As Gilda Radner used to say "Never mind!".

Phase one of world's first commercial spaceport is now 90% completed - in time for first flights in 2013

mailonline.com

Space Ship Two will be powered by RocketMotorTwo being developed by  Sierra Nevada Corporation.  SNC is also developing the Dream Chaser.

Calculating beta decays assuming Widom Larsen neutron production

Well, now that I am more familiar with Widom Larsen, let's say we do another one of these calculator exercises, shall we?

We are assuming only neutrons are added to the nickel nucleus, per Widom Larsen theory. If we were using the BECNF theory, we can add protons, but this is not BECNF, so protons need not apply.

add 1 neutron to nickel 58, yields unstable nickel 59 beta decays by electron capture to cobalt 59

add 1 neutron to cobalt 59 yields unstable cobalt 60 beta minus decay to nickel 60 chain stops here

We assume that the chain stops there, for the sake of simplicity.    The chain picks up again at nickel 62

add 1 neutron to nickel 62 yields unstable nickel 63 beta minus decays to copper 63

add 1 neutron to copper 63 yields unstable copper 64 which beta minus decays to zinc 64

That's not the whole story.  It can also beta minus decay by electron capture to

can also beta decay by electron capture to nickel 64

But lets follow the zinc branch before returning to the nickel branch in the pic above

add 1 neutron to zinc 64 yields zinc 65 which beta decays by electron capture to copper 65

Now let's go back and look at the nickel 64 and what happens there

add 1 neutron to nickel 64 yields unstable nickel 65 which beta minus decays to copper 65

The two lines join again at copper 65 for one more reaction before it ends

add 1 neutron to copper 65 yields unstable copper 66 which beta minus decays to zinc 66

One way to check Widom Larsen would be to check for zinc 66.  In fact, you would really want to look at those transmuted reaction products in order to get a feel for what is going on.

Disclaimer:  all this assumes that I've not made a mistake.  This is amateur hour, remember.

Low mass, low metal: SDSS J102915+172927 is the star that should not exist

Low mass, low metal: SDSS J102915+172927 is the star that should not exist

Six Reasons the Supercommittee Will Succeed

Six Reasons the Supercommittee Will Succeed

'The God Particle': The Higgs Boson

It is everywhere, you cannot escape. Ha, ha.

Ind. State Police Nab I-65 ‘Samurai’

Bonzai! Note: This means "ten thousand years" and is part of a longer phrase along the lines of "ten thousand years to the Emperor."

Aero-TV: XCOR Aerospace -- An Innovative Route To Space

Jeff Greason of XCOR discusses a fully reusable orbital system.

Please read the description that goes with the video (on YouTube). I quote a portion of it below:

Founded in 1999, XCOR Aerospace is a small, privately-held California C-Corporation. Their headquarters and development facilities are located at the Mojave Spaceport and Civilian Aerospace Test Center in Mojave, California. XCOR engages in research, development, and production of reusable rocket-powered, horizontal launch vehicles for suborbital, and ultimately, orbital travel.[ my comment:  emphasis added.  I believe this is the way to go.  That's what I've written about here without even being aware of XCOR's intentions.  If it is going to be done, this is a way to do it.]

Dream Chaser

This looks like a contender for an actual system that may see some action in the future. Mind you, I'm not picking winners here. Not to say that someone else may get the nod.

Here's a screenshot from the SpaceDev site which shows an animated version of the Dream Chaser on top of a rocket, presumably an Atlas V.

http://www.spacedev.com/

One thing that I am checking out is if this will fit on top of an SRB, which was to be used with the Ares I rocket, now canceled.  It would be a way to mate a reusable booster with the reusable Dream Chaser.  Not that they would actually want to put their Dream Chaser on a solid rocket booster.  In fact, the word is out that the Atlas V will launch the Dream Chaser.

Was the SRB ever in the running?

As for dimensions, the SRB and the Atlas V are very similar.  Performance wise, well, I don't know.  The SRB is supposed to fire for about 2 minutes.  But it generates a lot of thrust.  Both SRBs in the Shuttle configuration provided 83% of the liftoff thrust, but only 60% of the mass.

What that would mean in terms of altitude and velocity for a 25,000 pound craft, I can only guess.  The shuttle weighed 10 times as much.  A single SRB just might be enough to get to orbital velocity and altitude. But could it be recovered?

The Ares I was designed to send the Orion into orbit.  The Orion's mass came in at twice what the Dream Chaser's.  With far less mass, all the Dream Chaser may need is just a little more boost from its own onboard rockets in order to reach orbit.  I'm not 100% sure of that, though.  Maybe a lot less than 100%.

This isn't a flyable rocket, but it could all be 100% reusable, if the SRB could be recovered in good shape.

Thanks for coming by and have a great evening.

Morning Summary, 8/4

Well, it's getting late this morning, and I still haven't made a post.

I'm running into problems reporting on nuclear physics because I don't have enough background and lack the time to obtain it.  That didn't stop me from reading more about the subject this morning.  But, there wasn't anything I could post about it.

What it did do is make me wonder a bit about the Widom Larsen theory.  You know, if you look at these theories long enough, you could start having doubts. Doubts about Widom Larsen?  Yes.  But not to worry.  If you read about it enough, there are doubts about all theories.  They are, after all, just theories.  The problem starts when a theory is taken as absolute truth.   Like climate change.

In science, can there be such a thing as absolute truth?  But with religion there is.  Religion has the certainty that science lacks.

Turning from science, I went back to politics.  What I found is this disenchantment with Obama.  His supporters are disappointed.  They want him to fight harder.  I was tempted to make fun of Obama on the basis of this disenchantment.  Shall I mention the idea I had?  Yes, but only briefly.  You see, there is this slang word known as "weenie" which seems to apply to these stories.  A "weenie" is an ineffectual male, which is basically what it boils down to.  So, is Obama a weenie?  That's the humor, or I thought so.  I suppose there will be some who will not be amused.

I like to point out something that I've mentioned from time to time. That is about a sense of humor. There isn't enough of that right now. "If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't be living." That's a quote from a guy I used to work with in the old days. Well, how about it people- can you take a joke?

Belarus Hyperinflation Update

Food Runs Out As Friendly Foreigners Take Advantage Of The "Favorable" Exchange Rate Arb

• We fully expect the exchange rate a year from today to be several million percent higher, as the ghost of Weimar and all other failed Keynesian experiments moves in to haunt this former Soviet satellite country.
• If only these people had known in advance what happens when a deranged Keynesian madman is in charge of it all...

Calling Paul Krugman....   Calling Paul Krugman....  Calling Paul Krugman...

That's bad

No, that's good.

Sarah Palin’s speech to the Iowa Tea Party

She proposed an elimination of ALL corporate taxes


Liberals will love that idea. /sarc

Jaws

Was that a scary movie or not?  Here's the part where the chief says that you need a bigger boat

frickin HUGE shark

I like to imagine how movies end differently.  I found this site and this is how it might have ended differently

Afterburner: The Truth Is Out There

What is truth?

It isn't a new question. 

FuturePundit: Food Challenge For Mars Mission

FuturePundit: Food Challenge For Mars Mission

ISS in trouble?

Spacex mission could be delayed but Cautious Optimism that Russia can get a mission to keep Crew in Space Station

This could mean a potential loss of the ISS.   Let us hope that is not the case.

Morning Summary, 8/3

Good morning.

It appears that I have reached a snag in my armchair physics studies. It will take a long time to study it all in order to be able to understand it properly. After spending some time on it this morning, the significance of my lack of understanding was becoming more clear to me.

After reaching my age, I have noticed a tendency of mine- many times than what I care to remember- to take on more than I can chew. And here I am, having done it again.

With respect to "cold fusion", it is enough for me to say that I understand it to be incorrect use of language.  I respect language enough to want to make that distinction.  Cold, in this sense, means low energy.  Fusion in this sense, means strong nuclear force.  Putting those terms together appears oxymoronic.  In order to bring about fusion, one needs high energy to overcome the Coulomb barrier and bring the strong nuclear force into play.  Therefore, it would seem to be a contradiction in terms.  Hence, the confusion of cold fusion.

Low energy nuclear reactions seem to be the more correct term.  It is not fusion, it is not overcoming the Coulomb barrier, it does not invoke the strong nuclear force.  It invokes the weak nuclear force instead.  The forces in the Standard Model of Particle Physics are:  strong, weak, and electromagnetic.  Strong and weak nuclear forces are substantially different from each other.  For example, the Coulomb barrier implies electromagnetic force.   Likewise, weak nuclear force involves beta decay; not fusion, nor fission.  Fusion and fission belong to the strong nuclear force.  Beta decays do not make bombs.  But they can be used to make energy.

It has taken me awhile to get to this point.  But I haven't got a lot of time.  Let's just leave it at this point.  I think I've got it now- so as to understand these most basic points.  No need to pass myself off as an expert.  Let that distinction be made clear.  I am just an ordinary guy trying to understand a difficult subject.  And write about it as best I can.

What is this?!

iPad head girl. Can she see with that on? Evidently. She is reading a book too. But it looks like she may not be noticing all the people gawking at her.

Well, that's all for today. Thanks for coming by and have a great evening.

Amateur hour physics

aka armchair physics.  I want to understand this Widom Larsen theory better.  To do that, I need to understand something that I don't right now.  I will work through the following.  Anybody who knows better, let me know, if you wish to comment.

beta decay:
n0 → p+ + e− + νe, more easily read by the following: neutron → proton + electron + electron antineutrino
Beta decay happens naturally, as single neutrons are unstable and will decay in a few minutes.

This experiment reversed this process in order to prove the existence of the antineutrino:
νe + p → n + e+ ; or more easily read as above: electron antineutrino + proton → neutron + positron

Note: a positron is positively charged antimatter version of an electron.  The experiment required an electron neutrino source to bombard the protons and produce the expected results.


I'm trying to understand how a proton can become a neutron since protons have 2 up quarks and a down quark and neutrons have 2 down quarks and an up quark.  Therefore, to go from a proton to a neutron, one up quark has to be converted into a down quark.

Since a down quark has more mass than an up quark, the bombardment of the proton by the electron antineutrino must add mass so that the up quark becomes a down quark and causes the proton to become a neutron.  But the newly formed neutron has more mass than the proton and the positron has the same mass as an electron.  Where does the extra mass come from?  It must come from the antineutrino, but it has low mass.  WTF?

I know antineutrinos have low mass, and they travel at near the speed of light.  Since velocity adds mass, then the antineutrinos bombarding the protons are adding the necessary mass.  That's what I think is happening.

Now, the Widom Larsen theory has electrons combining with protons to form neutrons.  Not the same as above.  Electrons have mass and are not traveling at near light speed.  The electron adds mass.  Somehow, the up quark will combine??? with the electron to form the down quark ( with a heavier mass) and turn the proton into a neutron.

This doesn't happen naturally, or we'd have a universe filled with neutrons.  It needs some help to bring about this result.

The Widom Larsen theory attempts to explain how this can happen within the context of low energy nuclear reactions.

Google Moon

Like Google Earth, there is Google Moon.  You can see the Apollo landing sites here.  But not in great detail.

I wanted to see more detail, but this was good enough for my purposes.  My purpose was to check out the idea that you could drive across the lunar surface from the poles to the equator.  That seems doubtful to me now because of the ruggedness of the lunar landscape.

The rovers on the latter missions covered some distance, it appears.  The distance between the poles and the equator would be in at least 1500 miles or so.  The surface would have to be relatively level to make that long of a trip.  That doesn't exist on the Earth either, but the Moon is even more rugged than that.  Plus, whatever conveyance you have will not be up to the journey, most likely.

Update:

By the way, here's a video of a mission to produce a 3D map of the lunar surface. It doesn't give that much detail though.

Yahoo Daily Ticker: As Economy Falters, The White House Is Up for Grabs, Says Politico’s Burns

• poll ratings not good
• economy match ups not good for Obama
• Does Romney have what it takes to get nomination?
• Is it a Perry Romney race now? (looks like it)
• No predictions being made- question is whether Perry can hold up to scrutiny

Video: Why are tar sands evil, again?

Nine out of every 10 calories you eat come from fossil fuels. If it wasn't for fossil fuels, the machinery to harvest crops and to bring them to market could not work. You can't feed a world with animal power. Can't be done. So, to say that oil is evil is to say that most people alive today are evil because they must eat.

No? How else do you propose to feed people then? Windmills and solar power? Not enough energy there. For if there was enough, it would certainly be done. It can't be done because the need is too great.

The only other alternative is nuclear, which is probably considered even more evil by these people. Evidently, they are ignorant, or suicidal. Either way, they are not worth listening to.

Web Series Today: Model Ball

Interesting choice of words, that. Model ball? Think about it. Anyway, here's the video

Destination: Moon or Asteroid? Part III: Resource Utilization Considerations

The Once and Future Moon, Paul Spudis

The verdict is Moon First.   I agree.   So, how do we do this?

Here's a start:

EML1 Building by QuantumG

Comex Gold Extends Already Sharp Gains in Wake of Very Weak U.S. Jobs Report

kitco

The key non-farm payrolls figure came in at zero growth during August, while the consensus was for growth of 80,000. The July non-farm jobs figure was also revised downward.

Very volatile trading continues.  Dow is way down, gold is way up.

 

Ultra low momentum neutron catalyzed nuclear reactions on metallic hydride surfaces

via New Energy Times ( Widom-Larsen )

If low energy neutrons can be detected, does that prove the Widom Larsen theory?  After all, where do they come from?  I scanned the file and looked for evidence of such an observation.  A few excerpts from the file:

• These will rarely be experimentally
  detected. In this regard, ultra low momentum
  neutrons may produce “neutron rich” nuclei in substantial
  quantities. These neutrons can yield interesting reaction
  sequences [19, 20]. Other examples are discussed below in
  the concluding section.
• In summary, weak interactions can produce neutrons
  and neutrinos via the capture by protons of heavy electrons.
  The collective motions of the surface metallic hydride
  protons produce the oscillating electric fields that
  renormalize the electron self energy, adding significantly to
  the effective mass.

Along with the slow neutrons, you may want to find heavy electrons.

• laser light fields can “dress” an electron in
  a non-perturbation theoretical fashion with an additional
  mass as in (5). Such mass modifications must be applied
  to electrons and positrons when pairs can in principle be
  blasted out of the vacuum [9, 10] employing colliding laser
  beams. The mass growth in the theory appears in a classic
  treatise on quantum electrodynamics [8]. 
• The classical equation (21) holds true in the fully quantum
  mechanical theory if the electron density ˜n represents the
  electron density at the proton position [ comment: emphasis in the original] 

 One explanation applies the analogy of a single goose flying through an atmospheric disturbance as opposed to a flock of geese.  The flock has a better chance of making it through.  Think of it as a flock of electrons trying to get to the proton in order to form the low energy neutron.

There may be a problem verifying this.  How do you observe neutrons of this type that are rarely observed.  And how do you find the heavy electrons?  It may not be easy, but it doesn't say it is impossible.

Word clouds

I want to experiment with tag clouds. Just for comparison, I did a tag cloud on a number of web pages, just to see what they would look like. But I didn't get that much from it, actually. Then an idea struck me to try to get a feel for an essay by doing a word cloud analysis of it. For example, you can take an interview or an essay, like Limbaugh did with Dick Cheney. What did that word cloud look like? Let's take a look:

al-qaeda anything armitage attack book called cheney controversial correct country department director enhanced fact folks giving gonna heads house important interrogation justice khalid lot mccain mohammed mr people personal political powell president process program question rush sanctioned senate source states talk techniques think thought united used vice vote work years

created at TagCrowd.com

Now compare this with Krugman's editorial

ago aid america borrow budget cantor change comments cover cuts decency deficit democrats disaster fair fight goal government happen hostage hypocrisy ideas immediate innocent interest isn issue joseph mr offset order parties pay policy political problem rate reason relief requires responsible share spending state story temporary threatening victims willing yes

created at TagCrowd.com

I see more fear words in Krugman's essay.  Rush's interview seemed to have more thought words.

Quantum Processor Hooks Up with Quantum Memory

Quantum Processor Hooks Up with Quantum Memory

Rossi Energy Catalyzer will be tested at NASA starting September 3, 2011

Rossi Energy Catalyzer will be tested at NASA starting September 3, 2011

More here.

Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven

Is there a stairway to heaven, or is it all a hopeless dream? Something to think over. Thanks for coming by and have a great evening.

Nasa Return on Investment Report

Got this link from SpaceXer's tweet.

excerpts:

• The C2 Falcon 9 launch vehicle is currently at Pad 40, Cape Canaveral, and is undergoing final preparation for the mission. The integrated Dragon spacecraft is preparing for electromagnetic compatibility and thermal vacuum testing to verify the spacecraft's compatibility with ISS environments. The Dragon spacecraft is planned to be shipped from SpaceX’s Hawthorne facility to Cape Canaveral in September.
• Each of NASA’s CCDev2 partners (Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada, and SpaceX) has expanded their partnership with NASA through Reimbursable Space Act Agreements (SAAs). 
• Under a new agreement established last month, NASA and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) will share personnel, infrastructure and information to accelerate the potential use of the Atlas V as part of a commercial crew transportation system. 

Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster videos

Solid Rocket Booster Splashdown





Shuttle's Boosters Recovered in HD




Discovery recovered Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) Retrieval Ship Liberty Star [HD]




Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters on Florida East Coast Railway 5/27/10

Destination: Moon or Asteroid? Part II: Scientific Considerations

Destination: Moon or Asteroid? Part II: Scientific Considerations

Part II of a three part series.

Many body effects, many theories

Is it time to throw away the gasoline cans because of the energy revolution?  We are still waiting.  Seems like everyone is looking for the one single answer that fits all observations.

excerpts from natscience.com:

• What fuels the E-Cat? Rossi states that he uses micrometer grain
  sized nickel dust enriched to contain more of two useful isotopes,
  N-62 and N-64. 
• The nickel is then processed to increase the number of
  surface tubercles (protrusions) to provide greater area for heat
  producing reactions with hydrogen gas under pressure. A secret
  catalyst is added to break apart the molecular hydrogen gas (H2) into
  atomic hydrogen (H1).
• To make it simple, what happens is that nickel has a
  particularity that protons spread from it's surface with extreme
  efficiency very close to the nucleus, even if repelled by the so
  called coulomb barrier forces. When we inject protons of hydrogen at
  high pressures and temperatures, they go pretty close to the nucleus
  of the nickel. At those points we have nuclear effects that produce
  gamma rays which add more energy. We increase the pressure leading to
  extremely high pressures... similar to ones that happen inside White
  Dwarf stars. In that situation the so called Gamow Factor, which is a
  probabilistic calculation of the coulomb repelling forces, is
  overcome. At that point enough energy is produced to make it worth
  being recorded." - Andrea Rossi

Comment:

It can be recalled that the phenomenon LENR or "cold fusion", is a surface phenomenon.   Rossi's quote above fits with idea of maximizing the surface area.   Maximize the surface area, maximize the effect.

BECNF theory posits that there is a many body effect on the surfaces.  Same with Widom Larsen's theory- relying upon the actions of quasiparticles on surfaces, which corresponds somewhat with BECNF theory.  

There are many theories about "cold fusion".  It has been said that there are too many.  So, I pose the question, as I heard Edmund Storms posed in a similar vein, what if there is more than one way to skin the nuclear cat?  Many body effects, too many causes?  [ those last questions may be too cute, sorry]

The Daily Ticker: "NEVER Buy Treasuries...

I agree. The point is to buy low and sell high. How do Treasuries get any more expensive from here? The only reason to buy is to protect capital, but if they sell off, you will lose anyway. They are too expensive. If you buy, you may buy high and sell low. Too much risk of a downturn.

Widom Larsen Theory LENRs . . . Energy Revolution? with Lewis Larsen President of Lattice Energy

excerpts:  (video is about an hour long)

• strong v weak interactions
• strong interactions are related to weapons programs
• weak interactions weren't considered useful for bombs, nor for power generation
• "cold fusion" was thought to be another strong interaction, but it isn't
• "cold fusion" isn't fusion
• Fleischmann and Pons didn't have a theory to explain the phenomenon
• explains theory - no new physics, existing physics put together in a novel way
• weak interactions produce neutrinos- nature produces them all the time
• collective effects
• in a chemical cell, ie battery, run a current through it, will cause weak interactions
• saturate metal with hydrogen, drops appear on surface, in this droplets a coupling occurs, protons and electrons combine ; [comment: beta decay results and produces the energy]
• no gamma rays- don't need shielding and containment
• like a battery, but lasts a long time, portable products can be made
• more you make of these, the cheaper they get, like PC's [ comment: comparison with Moore's Law]
• use variety of fuels, will cause energy to become cheap and affordable
• discussion of benefits of cheap energy
• Nasa studying it- physics are correct, a matter of engineering now
• interdisciplinary theory partly responsible for nonacceptance, but no flaws found yet
• sometimes effects are not understood at first, Faraday example
• stop at 35 minutes, but there's more.  I'm stopping to post this.  You need to listen to this.

Widom Larsen and BECNF -comparison and contrast

Widom Larsen Theory and Zawodny at NASA Aviation Unleashed

Comment: The significant thing about Widom Larsen is that it requires no new physics. No need to overcome the Coulomb barrier, as neutrons are formed, which are captured by the nucleus. It is pointed out that this could not be fusion, since it isn't a proton which is entering a nucleus of an atom, but a neutron instead. Beta decay will account for subsequent transmutations.

This theory does not explain the E-cat.  It will require electric input to allow the electrons to merge with the protons forming the neutrons.  So far as I know, the E-cat is requiring only heat. 

Krivit on Widom Larsen  theory .

Krivit gives a simpler explanation of Widom Larsen.

The key point is that it is different from BECNF in that it doesn't overcome the Coulomb barrier as BECNF does.  Therefore, it would seem that the burden of scientific proof is higher for BECNF.  Yet, Rossi's device is said to be operational.  As far as I know, there is no device yet that employs the principles of Widom Larsen.

There are some similarities with the BECNF theory covered here previously. (see label on left sidebar for a list of these posts)   Both theories posit that quasiparticles allow unusual events to occur.

In the case of Widom Larsen, low energy neutrons are formed.  The neutrons can be absorbed by nickel nucleii and release energy due to beta decay.

In the case of BECNF, the Coulomb barrier gets suppressed by the Bose Einstein condensation.  This allows close enough proximity of ordinarily repelling like electrical charges- protons and nickel nucleii- so that they can fuse and release energy.

These unusual events lead to the production of heat which explains the "cold fusion" phenomenon.  It is important to clarify though, that Widom Larsen theory is definitely not fusion.

Both theories rely on the many body theories of quantum mechanics.