On Apr 9, 7:40 pm, drachirREVERSEEACHPARTTORE...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Richard Kennaway) wrote:
> Ross Presser <rpres...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > 2) The number of nucleons definitely do NOT match up; Oxygen-18 has 8
> > protons and 10 neutrons, iron-56 has 26p/30n, and gold-197 has 79p/
> > 118n. So we have to gang up the reactions, say
>
> > 56 atoms of O-18 -> 17 atoms of Fe-56 + 6p + 50n
>
> > and then use beta decay to make the extra nucleons into one more
> > Fe-56. Something similar for gold-197, though I haven't worked out
> > the numbers yet. So the Goose is going to be emitting electrons and
> > antineutrinos? This goose was generating up to 45.8 gm of gold a day,
> > or almost a quarter mole -- that's about 1.4E+23 atoms of gold
> > produced. Every day. So that's a lot of electrons being emitted. The
> > poor thing should have static electricity from its entire body, maybe
> > enough to electrocute itself.
>
> The reaction from O18 all the way to Au197 requires a net increase in
> neutron pro****tion, from 5/9 to 118/197, an increase of 0.043.
> Presumably the goose is converting protons to neutrons by combining them
> with its own electrons. (And emitting neutrinos?)
If it combined protons with its own electrons, it would also have to
PROVIDE antineutrinos to be consumed by the reverse beta decay. And
do you think this goose is going to sit around waiting for
antineutrinos to hit it? Well, maybe it can count on the ones from
the Sun.... I dunno....
But let's assume it's using the other beta decay, gamma + p -> n +
positron + neutrino.
OK, revised reactions:
(A) 56 atoms of O18 -> 18 atoms of Fe56 + 20 electrons + 20
antineutrinos
(B) 23246 atoms of Fe56 -> 6608 atoms of Au197 + 708 positrons + 708
neutrinos
We can balance 177 of reaction A with 5 of reaction B to annihilate
all excess leptons and neutrinos, leaving nothing but gamma, which
presumably would be consumed by reaction (B) anyway. But that's no
good, because 188 of reaction A only produces 3186 of Fe56, but 5 of
reaction B requires 116230 of Fe56. Running more O18 reactions to
provide enough Fe56 would unbalance the leptons and neutrinos
again ...
(I expected better from the author who first TOLD me what an electron
was, and what its left hand was doing. Sigh. *shakes fist at Asimov
in the heavens*)
Maybe another system could be added to this mess to fix it up .. but
there's no room for it in the story, which only noticed anomalies in
the O18, Fe56 and Au197 isotopes. Sigh.
And I still don't know how to tell if Asimov got the binding energy
balance right. Erik? Where do I look?
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