Requirements LENR imposes on a theory

For LENR to take place, two or more hydrogen nuclei (I use the word hydrogen to mean any isotope of the element called hydrogen.) must come to the same location and occupy this location for some period of time.

For a fusion rate of 10^11 times/sec to occur when 1 watt is measured, the number of these fusing assemblies existing at any time must be comparable to this rate. This requirement is based on the fact that these assemblies do not form instantaneously but require the atoms to diffuse from sties located at some distance from the growing active sites.

As the hydrogen are fused, replacements must diffuse from even greater distances.

In addition, something about this particular nuclear active location and the resulting assembly must allow the Coulomb barrier to be significantly lowered and, at the same time, the assembly must have a way to dissipate the resulting mass energy without the need for the resulting nuclear product to fragment.

These are the requirements that LENR impose on the process. These requirements severely limit what can be proposed as an explanation

To met these requirements within the lattice structure, the hydrogen nuclei must spontaneously rearrange from the known stable arrangement and assemble in these very unusual clusters of hydrogen nuclei.

The laws of thermodynamic require Gibbs energy be created for this to happen. No one has identified this source, nor is such a source to be expected given what we know about the chemical properties of PdD, which is the compound of interest. So, in my way of description, I state that formation of such an assembly violates the laws of thermodynamics.

Some theories propose mechanism to get around this problem. These mechanisms themselves violate natural law, in my opinion. Let’s explore a few examples.

BEC: The BEC is a structure that forms as result of quantum interactions that are very weak, hence the structure is only observed to form between atoms near absolute zero. Nevertheless, the structure is proposed to form at room temperature and above at a rate consistent with the observed production of heat from LENR, as noted above. This idea is justified by assuming local regions in a material spontaneously acquire a temperature near absolute zero in which the BEC form long enough for it to fuse. Ignored is the fact that hydrogen nuclei must diffuse through the lattice and reach this site before it again returns to the normal temperature. Because this region is cold, the diffusion rate will be very small as the site is approached, thereby preventing rapid assembly of the required number of nuclei. This limitation combined with the required assumption that a BEC can actually experience fusion and dissipate the energy without fragmentation of the nuclear product violates basic logic and the law of thermodynamics that prohibit such cold spots from forming.

Metal atom vacancies: Vacancies in the metal sublattice are proposed to form in PdD as the D/Pd ratio approach 1 and some of the D are proposed to move into these sites and accumulate. The previously vacant metal atom sites are not proposed to fill randomly by individual atoms, but instead a certain number of the sites can acquire a large number of D. These large assemblies are then proposed to experience occasional fusion between some of their members and the mass-energy then leaks out of the cluster as phonons. Once again the process of assembling the nuclei is ignored as well as the Gibbs energy required to allow the process to take place.

Creation of sub-Bohr orbit structures: If the electron associated with the hydrogen nucleus could get close enough to the nucleus in a stable orbit, the structure would act neutron-like without having to pay the high energy cost of actually forming a neutron. Furthermore, the electron is proposed to hide the Coulomb barrier just long enough for the neutron-like structure to approach another nucleus and then go on its way after fusion has occurred while effectively adding a d or p to the target nucleus. These neutron-like structures are proposed to form spontaneously, diffuse through the lattice without causing any observed chemical effect until they find a another nucleus with which to react. Even though the Dirac equation can be used to justify formation of the structure and even though Mills has published independent justification, no evidence exists to support the idea. The idea seems to be justified only by LENR being possible. To me, this is an example circular reasoning.

There is a tendency for many theories to ignore the real and well understood conditions that exist in a chemical structure. This is done by applying an arbitrary chosen collection of mathematical equations that hide the required real-world process that must take place.

Theories must begin with what can be actually seen to take place, and apply what is known to be consistent with the known behavior of LENR while also being consistent with the known chemical properties of materials in which LENR takes place.

We need to bring the large number of conflicting explanations together into a common logical structure. I do not believe this can be done as long as the theories are based on LENR taking place in the chemical lattice itself. That is why I moved my thinking to the crack structure where the rules change and conditions exist that can be used to explain LENR.

I admit, when I say laws of nature have been violated, this may be too strong but it captures the universal problem I’m trying to emphasize.

This problem results because many of the present theories start with a model based on a chosen mathematical description and then look for behavior as justification.

In contrast to the present theories, I start with what is known and use this to create a logically consistent model. I’m tying to encourage use of this approach.