Solar-lunar-terrestrial interactions: Bursts of neutron emission and seismic activity

N. N. Volodichev, B. M. Kuzhevskij, O. Yu. Nechaev, M. I. Panasyuk, A. N. Podorol'sky, and P. I. Shavrin
Nuclear Physics Research Institute, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

Abstract

In 1990-1991 an increase in the neutron emission intensity was observed at the new Moon and full Moon in seismically active regions of the Pamir mountains. In 1997, principally new data indicating that neutron bursts result from tidal phenomena in the Earth's crust were obtained. On the other hand, it is known that tidal forces can act as a triggering mechanism for seismic activity. Examination of homogeneous global data on earthquakes for 1964-1992 allowed us to reveal a 2-week lunar periodicity of earthquakes associated with the new Moon and full Moon phases. A further study of neutron bursts and their correlation with seismic activity can lead to the formulation of a new type of precursors of an increase in seismic activity: neutron bursts due to solar-lunar-terrestrial gravitational interactions.

1. Introduction

The correlation between the bursts of low-energy neutron fluxes from the Earth's crust and the periods of passage of the largest tidal waves through the Earth's crust at the new Moon and full Moon discovered in our experiments was explained by Volodichev et al. [1996, 1997]. The essence of the phenomenon is as follows: When the angle between the Earth-Sun and Earth-Moon lines is the smallest, the total gravitational effect exerted by these cosmic bodies on the Earth is the highest and deformations in the Earth's crust are the strongest. This leads to an increase in the neutron concentration in the surface layer of the Earth's crust and atmosphere due to two processes: mechanical emission (that is, a release of various atomic and nuclear particles due to the deformation-induced cracking of the rocks of the Earth's crust) and enhancement of the flow of radioactive gases (isotopes of radon). This leads to a stronger flux of energetic alpha particles that undergo nuclear interactions with the elements of the Earth's crust and atmosphere. As a result, neutrons are ejected.

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2. Observations

Figure 1

An important role of tidal forces acting on the Earth's crust in the formation of neutron bursts can be demonstrated using measurements carried out in 1997 in the Pamir mountains in the region of Jerino at a height of 1100 m above sea level, 30 km to the north of Dushanbe. Figure 1 shows daytime measurements of the counting rates of neutrons N_n and electrons N_e with energies E_e 150 KeV conducted from 16 to 26 July 1997. From 16 to 24 July the approximating dashed curve passes approximately through the maximum neutron counting rates during every day. This value is the highest on 20 July at 0537 UT (  03 min). On the same day the Moon passed through the full Moon phase at 0320 UT. An increase in the neutron counting rate at the maxima during the period 16-20 July and a subsequent decrease till 24 July can be due to matched tidal effects of the Moon and the Sun. The sum of these effects reaches its maximum at a full Moon and decreases in subsequent days, which probably demonstrates the sensitivity of neutron emission to relatively small variations in tidal forces. At night (local time) from 21 to 22 July, measurements of neutrons and electrons were also carried out. The results are shown in

Figure 2

Figure 2. From 1722 UT to 1909 UT on 21 July, approximately 12 hours after the daytime 21 July burst, a multi-impulse burst of neutron emission exceeding at its maximum the background value by a factor of 100 was detected. The maximum value of the neutron burst in the daytime on 22 July was also reached in approximately 12 hours after the nighttime burst. Thus a 12-hour periodicity in the bursts of 21 and 22 July corresponding to the tidal wave period was observed. Earlier we put forward the hypothesis that one of the reasons for formation of neutron bursts at the new Moon and full Moon are increases in the release of radioactive gases. Measurements of fluxes of alpha particles in various regions of the Pamir mountains in July and August 1997 revealed that fluxes of alpha particles were present and that they considerably (by a factor of tens) exceeded the average fluxes in the Earth's crust. The presence of considerable fluxes of alpha particles which are an intermediate product between a radioactive gas and neutrons indicates that an increase in the release of radioactive gases can be a probable reason for neutron bursts.

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3. Relation to Seismic Activity

Since strong neutron bursts were observed at the new Moon and full Moon, that is, when the tidal deformation of the Earth's crust was stronger, it was interesting to obtain the evidence of two-week variations in the seismic activity associated with the Moon's phases. To find a correlation between seismic activity and the new Moon and full Moon phases, the catalog of earthquakes with a magnitude m 4 for 1964-1992 was analyzed. Using the obtained results, we began a systematic search for series of earthquakes. We call a series of earthquakes a set of earthquakes with the epicenters within the area of several square degrees and following each other with a frequency of n, where n is some number of earthquakes per day. At the first stage, when we were looking for a correlation between the Moon phases and seismic activity, we were taking n = 50 per day (or 80 per 2 days). We have found 13 such series during 1964-1992. All the events of the series were located in the Pacific seismic ring: 7 series in its northern part at latitudes 40 ^o and 6 series between 25^o N and 5^o S. It was also found that all 6 series at latitudes above 40 ^o were starting in the days close to the full Moon (the difference was not more than 3 days). The series 7 observed at longitudes of 40-41^o began on the fourth day after the full Moon. A hypothesis appeared that large series (with a large number of earthquakes per day) with epicenters at longitudes of 40 ^o start predominantly on the new or full Moon days or on the days close to them.
To obtain a new earthquake series to check this hypothesis, we began to look for series for which the number of earthquakes were 30 n < 50 per day or 40 n < 80 per 2 days. We have found 24 such series also located in the Pacific belt. However only 4 series were at latitudes 40^o. At the same time, series appeared at latitudes >5^oS. This fact moved us to widen the hypothesis into the Southern Hemisphere. It would be desirable to find arguments in favor of such uniting of the north and south and also of the asymmetry in the choice of the latitudinal boundaries (since there is no series southward from 40^o S). Large differences in the time dependence between the high-latitude (above 40^o) and low-latitude (below 40^o) regions in 1920-1980 have been reported earlier [see Mogi, 1988, Figure 5.8]. We are able to obtain the latitudinal asymmetry of the seismic activity considering the latitude distribution of the total (for 1964-1992) number of earthquake with m_b 4. It was found that the symmetry axis relative the equator is as follows: 40^o N correspond to 10^o S. Thus the asymmetry in the determination of latitudinal boundaries and the splitting series to high latitude and located at central latitudes all manifest the global distribution of the seismic activity and its time differences between the high-latitude and low-latitude regions. We think that this distribution is due to the geography of the tectonic platforms and the direction of their movement.

Figure 3

As a result, we have come to a new edition of the hypothesis: large series of earthquakes with magnitudes m_b 4 and epicenters located at latitudes of 40 ^o N or 10 ^o S begin predominantly on the days of new and full moon or adjacent days. To check this hypothesis, the time dependence of nine earthquake series corresponding to the assumptions of the hypothesis is been considered (Figure 3, right). Figure 3 shows that some series have a complicated time profile, but all of them begin in the days of full or new Moon or within 3 days (the beginnings of the first and eighth series are 1 and 2 days from the new Moon, respectively). The days remote from the days of new or full Moon by 0-3 days are met in a calendar as often as the days remote by 4-7 days. Therefore, if the grouping at the 0-7 interval is homogeneous, the probability of a random grouping of the beginnings of all nine series in one of its half (0-3 days) is equal to 2^-9 or 0.002. We believe that this result confirms the hypothesis presented above.

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4. Summary

The analysis of the catalogs of earthquakes has shown that the lunar 2-week modulation manifested itself in the large series of earthquakes in the region of the circum-Pacific seismic ring at the latitudes northward of 40^o N and southward of 10^o S. Our analysis considerably expands the geography of the regions where the 2-week lunar periodicity is observed. It also confirms that the Moon's phase can affect the time of the earthquake onset in the cases when the characteristic time of the energy accumulation before the earthquake is much longer than a month [Allen, 1936]. Deformation of the Earth's crust caused by maximum tidal forces at the new Moon and full Moon can be probably a triggering mechanism for the release of the earthquake energy accumulated during a long period. It is precisely at these days of the synodic months that bursts of neutron emission considerably exceeding (by a factor of tens) the background neutron fluxes are observed in seismically active regions. This suggests that neutron bursts can be regarded as precursors of earthquakes.

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biological transmutations - excerpts from human-resonance.org

http://www.human-resonance.org/qi.html

[]Russian scientists... installed three neutron detectors that were sensitive to low energy neutrons: one above ground, one partially shielded in a building, and a third underground... The cosmic rays generate muons that collide with something in or very near the detector, resulting in neutrons that have the high energy of the muon being registered. Neutrons from lightning, on the other hand, can only have the energy given up by a fission event, which is then lost in collisions with molecules in the air as they travel to the detector... In the previous experiments, it had been assumed that each detection event corresponded to a single neutron, [whereas] the new data show that up to 5,000 neutrons per cubic meter are produced every second by lightning strikes...+

[]Densely concentrated resonant nuclear transmutations of deuterium into protium remain the only viable explanation for the origin of neutron flux released by atmospheric HHO plasma briefly generated during lightning strikes.

[]Kervran defined resonant nuclear reactions as reversible, and involving both fusion and fission events between gases, metals, nonmetals and earths. His simple in vitro demonstration of the oxygen-dependent low energy atomic conversion of carbon into iron was reported in 1962, wherein ultrapure carbon rods were used as electrodes in an aqueous discharge system. Sediment analysis confirmed the fusion of two carbon atoms with two oxygen atoms in the formation of iron.

Multiple government-funded investigations into recurring cases of fatal carbon monoxide poisoning of steelworkers in France were finally concluded with Kervran's definitive 1964 demonstration under controlled laboratory conditions that lethal quantities of carbon monoxide are generated during steel plasma-cutting processes over 400°C by low energy nuclear transmutations of nitrogen gas. The fact that carbon monoxide is not formed below this critical temperature threshold is consistent with advanced atomic resonance calculations derived decades later, providing a basis for the determination of optimal temperature ranges for all such resonant atomic reactions that occur throughout natural systems.

[]airborne pairs of nitrogen atoms readily combine to form silicon at the edge of the thermosphere. A similar fusion event was identified in volcanic reactions where pairs of carbon atoms merge in the formation of magnesium, while pairs of oxygen atoms merge to form sulfur. The natural abundance of elements and the specific isotope ratios produced in thermospheric and volcanic processes provide compelling evidence for low energy nuclear reactions as the unified driving force of nature.

[]Various researchers have obtained significant evidence for biological transmutation as the origin of calcium from nuclear conversions of sodium, magnesium, potassium and silicon in a wide range of organisms that secrete calcium from one side of a membrane to produce protective shells. Experiments showed that avian and reptilian species deprived of dietary calcium were incapable of producing solid eggshells unless provided with a dietary source of silicon that was readily converted into the calcium required for normal eggshell development. Similar experiments with crustacean species deprived of environmental calcium sources revealed their ability to supplant calcium with magnesium to facilitate normal shell development.

Kervran also determined that calcium formation during tooth enamel and bone growth processes in all vertebrate species was mitigated by the same substitutive resonant nuclear reactions of magnesium and oxygen fusing to form calcium, as well as another notable reaction -carbon fusing with fluorine to form phosphorus. The reversal of the latter process was identified in the bacterial digestion of bone, with phosphorus undergoing resonant fission into carbon and fluorine daughter isotopes. The constant emission of fluorine gas during bone decomposition is relied upon in the dating of fossil specimens, yet its genesis as a fission product of bacterial digestion remains the only viable explanation.

Soil productivity is another area that Kervran's biological transmutation research has benefitted, after his unique findings concerning utilization of copper by wheat plants for resonant conversion into manganese. Initial attempts to increase manganese levels in wheat by the addition of manganese to soil proved fatal to test plants, while extensive trials by wheat farmers in Alberta, Canada confirmed Kervran's findings that supplementing soils with bluestone copper rebalances manganese and doubled soil productivity.

[]Kervran further applied his comprehensive findings to resolve many commonly misunderstood biomineral deficiencies in humans involving the biological transmutation of all essential elements as magnesium, calcium, manganese, iron, copper and zinc. In fact, it is known that calcium deficiency and resulting bone-depletion cannot be reversed by calcium intake. Calcium is now widely supplemented with magnesium, but the underlying mechanism can only be satisfactorily explained by resonant atomic transmutation. Hard evidence for fusion of magnesium and oxygen atoms is found in measurable Ca44 depletions in all bone.

An identical situation exists in dietary supplements manufactured for both iron and copper, which must be given together to achieve rebalancing of either essential element, as blood metabolism involves the resonant conversion of one element into the other. Comparative study of the three main varieties of animal blood --green, blue and red-- reveal distinct sets of nuclear reaction cascades taking place within narrow resonant temperature bands enabled by thermocline migration and thermoregulation strategies.

Cellular respiration processes in all green-blooded organisms, including ascidian, holothurian and sponge species, exhibit an alternate transmutation of iron that closely relates to those used by red- and blue-blooded species (vertebrates, cephalopods, gastropods and crustaceans). Fission of iron atoms forms titanium and vanadium in green blood while in red blood the fusion of iron and oxygen forms copper and in blue blood the fission of copper atoms forms oxygen, manganese and iron.

[]Kervran's elucidation of the electrically enhanced nuclear fusion of sodium and oxygen to form stable potassium occurs under the exact conditions that are constantly maintained in healthy blood, in conjunction with the fusion of iron and oxygen atoms, forming stable copper isotope Cu65.

[]The indispensible role of absorbed oxygen atoms in the resonant nuclear conversions of sodium into potassium and iron into copper directly implicates these specific reactions as primary mechanisms for blood's rebalancing of crucial metal concentrations, thus enabling effective utilization of a wider ratio of available metals to fulfill the well-known respiratory functions as well as the newly discovered biophotonic functions of blood medium.

[]Dimensional phonon resonance occurs when the space occupied by one isotope is exactly the same as that of another isotope in its rest state [i.e. 20°C]. This event can only occur under the following two conditions: the expansion of an isotope by heating, or the contraction of an isotope by cooling. Due to the natural characteristics of elemental properties, this event is extremely rare and one can only force the event under select conditions.

[]Phonon vibration of individual iron atoms enclosed within hemoglobin proteins display an oscillatory mode that corresponds to one of the four stable iron isotopes (Fe54, Fe56, Fe57, Fe58), allowing only four distinct possibilities for precision tuning of the resonant nuclear fusion of iron and oxygen atoms. Comprising only 2.2% of the abundance of iron, Fe57 is the only iron isotope that resonates at a frequency corresponding to the atomic diameter of the target isotope Cu65 near room temperature.

[]The resonant frequency of copper target isotope (Cu65) at the 20°C rest state is 43,622,792 Hz, according to its atomic diameter and thermal expansion coefficient. Iron starting isotope (Fe57) matches this atomic diameter while resonating at the target frequency of 43,622,792 Hz during precision heating to 37.5°C.

[]Blood circulating within the heart and large arteries maintains temperature near 38.0°C, slightly elevated above average core body temperature near 37.0°C. This significant variance of blood from the mean human body temperature induces rhythmic thermal fluctuations in blood cells according to their cyclical transport from the warm heart to the slightly cooler extremities and skin capillaries. During circulation, iron (Fe57) atoms split the mass of bound oxygen atoms to form helium and copper (Cu65) atoms at 37.5°C: Fe57 + O16 = 2He4 + Cu65.

Half the nuclear mass of oxygen atoms fuses with iron atoms to form copper, while the remaining eight nucleons are released as diatomic helium that rapidly escapes from red blood cells and blood plasma, for helium is insoluble in water at low pressure. As atmospheric helium is very rare and does not form any compounds that can be ingested, the presence of helium traces in human blood can only be accounted for as an exotic byproduct of phonon resonance reactions occurring within the heme groups of erythrocytes.

Recognition of this atomic reaction offers a new view of hemoglobin and myoglobin proteins as nuclear transmutation nanomachines, efficiently reducing iron nanoparticles into individual atoms for binding with oxygen molecules during transport, while electrical currents in the bloodstream dissociate iron-bound O2 molecules for recombination as diatomic helium and copper. By this mechanism, nuclear conversion rates are enhanced by natural exposure to electric current through barefoot contact with the Earth.

[]The four stable isotopes comprising chromium nanoparticles (Cr50, Cr52, Cr53, Cr54) are in constant oscillation at four distinct frequency modes of phonon resonance within the crystal lattice. The low energy nuclear fusion reaction of chromium and oxygen atoms to form nickel is optimized at the resonant frequency of nickel target isotope (Ni62) at rest state: 44,219,726 Hz. Chromium starting isotope (Cr50) resonates at this exact phonon frequency during precision heating to 37.9°C

The resonant reactions of iron into copper and chromium into nickel are also accompanied by the resonant fission reaction of manganese into chromium and vanadium, which takes place under exactly the same conditions present in the human bloodstream, according to frequency matching by Mn55 and Cr53.

The low energy fission of manganese to form hydrogen, chromium and vanadium is optimized at the resonant frequency of chromium target isotope (Cr53) at rest state: 43,378,479 Hz. Manganese starting isotope (Mn55) resonates at this exact phonon frequency during precision heating to 37.5°C

[]Nuclear transmutations of metals were identified in multiple budding yeast species (Champion, 2008) and disclosed in US Patent Application US2008/0081359: 'Methods for Producing Mutant Microbes Useful for Precious Metal and Bioenergy Production'. Intriguing metabolic processes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae convert silver surfaces into gold, platinum and palladium (below) within a narrow resonant temperature band at 43.4°C ±1°C by employing electrokinesis in conjunction with carbon-dioxide (CO2) production during fermentation while binding to silver surfaces using the SSB-1 protein. This set of aqueous conditions is also observed of blood -electronic excitation with specific elevated temperature and specific gas pressure.

In various basic microbial experiments, resonant nuclear mass recombinations have been identified in which specific gases are absorbed by metals and subsequently undergo an induced nuclear fusion event, whereby metal and gas atoms merge to form heavier metallic isotopes.

[]Low energy nuclear transmutation of silver into gold, platinum and palladium can be induced without using any biological agents, by precision control of atomic resonance and pressure in a two-stage reaction developed and refined by this author in 2011.

The first stage of the transmutation reaction involves precision heating to maintain the starting element (silver) at the phonon resonance frequency of the target element (gold), during a 24-hour dwell time under gas pressure. The resonant temperature calculation for the conversion of silver into gold is determined by application of the phonon resonance formula using recently obtained atomic data for greatest accuracy, as even small discrepancies in atomic data significantly influence the precision of calculation.

The resonant frequency of gold (Au197) in its rest state is 38,945,222 Hz, according to the element's atomic diameter at 20°C. Heavy silver isotope (Ag109) cannot be heated to resonate at the desired target frequency, yet becomes informed by the frequency vibrations of the adjacent atoms of the sister isotope. Silver isotope (Ag107) resonates at the (Au197) target frequency of 38,945,222 Hz when heated to 43.4°C

Once the starting element is instilled with the atomic frequency signature of the target element, the second stage of the transmutation reaction involves the quantum trapping and restabilization procedure that triggers bulk conversion of the starting element into the target element - according to the established atomic frequency 'memory'. While a notable weight increase can be measured immediately after the quantum trapping procedure is completed (and shows no variation thereafter), the stunning visible color changes take place very gradually over the course of the following 100 hours!

[]The conversion of iron into copper employed by red-blooded animals is utilized in reverse as a fission reaction by blue-blooded marine animals (the cephalopods, gastropods and crustaceans) and a great variety of terrestrial and aquatic plant species (Kervran, 1964). Copper (Cu63) atoms release helium atom pairs to form manganese (Mn55) atoms, while copper (Cu65) atoms release helium atom pairs to form iron (Fe57) atoms, according to the conversion formulae: Cu63 = 2He4 + Mn55 ; Cu65 - 2He4 + Fe57

Resonant conversions of dietary copper into iron and manganese are employed by vast multitudes of lifeforms that do not regulate their own body temperatures, because the narrow temperature band required for such conversions lies very close to the mean ambient temperature in a great variety of habitats. However, careful calculation of phonon relationships reveal that frequency resonance of copper with iron and manganese cannot occur anywhere near ambient ocean temperatures.

These copper fission reactions constantly occurring in blue blood produce oxygen in the presence of hydrogen by phonon frequency matching of deuterium at 23.5°C with helium atoms at rest (20°C). The most common heavy isotope of hydrogen, deuterium is present in the rivers, lakes, seas and oceans at trace levels near 0.0156%. Aquatic organisms of all kinds inhabiting the ocean's pelagic zones exploit helium-producing phonon resonance reaction cascades by following a rising and falling band of seawater near 23.5°C, while light hydrogen cooled to 13.8°C resonates with oxygen at rest.

Despite significant differences in atomic mass and density between the two elements, hydrogen and oxygen atoms actually present similar atomic diameters, thereby allowing phonon resonance to occur very close to the rest state. This intriguing fact allows the phonon vibrations of hydrogen atoms absorbed into metal nanoparticles to instill metal atoms with the resonant target frequency of oxygen.

Resonant nuclear fission of pairs of copper atoms to form oxygen, manganese and iron occurs at the resonant frequency of target isotope (O16) in its rest state --at 3,775,138 Hz. Copper starting isotopes (Cu63, Cu65) become instilled with the phonon frequency of oxygen target isotope (O16) by the vibrations of absorbed hydrogen (H1) atoms within the metal lattice, during precision cooling to 13.8°C.

Similar fission reactions can be induced in iron atoms at the same resonant 13.8°C temperature, whereby terrestrial and aquatic plants are able to convert iron into calcium, as also exploited by cold-blooded animals in the growth of bone, carapace, protective shell or eggshell: Fe56 = O16 + Ca40 ; Fe57 = O16 + Ca41 ; Fe58 = O16 + Ca42 .

The cascade of oxygen-producing reactions at 13.8°C proceeds with an additional step following the same isotopic conversion pattern, involving transmutation of calcium into oxygen and magnesium: Ca40 = O16 + Mg24 ; Ca41 = O16 + Mg25 ; Ca42 = O16 + Mg26

The most unusual atomic conversions taking place in the animal kingdom have raised eyebrows among biophysicists for years, who have been unable to satisfactorily account for the exceedingly high concentrations of exotic metals in the bodies of sea squirts, and virtually all ascidian species. Titanium is the exotic byproduct of resonant conversions of copper into oxygen in green-blooded species that can also be induced at the calculated phonon frequency resonance threshold of 13.8°C: Cu63 = O16 + Ti47 ; Cu65 = O16 + Ti49

Just as blue-blooded animals utilize copper, green-blooded animals also rely on the close phonon frequency matching of hydrogen and oxygen atoms to induce resonant nuclear conversions of iron. Trace metal analyses of the green blood of tunicates reveal high concentrations of rare metals within tunichrome blood pigments that comprise solid evidence of low energy nuclear transmutations.

The blood of Pyura chilensis contains high levels of iron and titanium while Ascidia dispar presents high levels of iron, titanium and vanadium (Roman et al., 1988). The predominant nuclear reactions releasing biophoton cascades in green blood involve the fission of iron atoms during precision heating to 23.5°C, producing helium, titanium and vanadium atoms: Fe54 = 2He4 + Ti46 ; Fe56 = 2He4 + Ti48 ; Fe57 = 2He4 + Ti49 ; Fe58 = 2He4 + Ti50 ; Fe58 = 2He4 + V50

The four stable isotopes of iron can only be converted into four of the five stable isotopes of titanium, indicating isotopic shifts may be expressed in Ti47 depletion. In the case of human blood, perpetual Cu65 enhancement provides definitive confirmation of ongoing resonant conversions of iron into copper. Further studies of tunicate metabolism may establish if ascidians, when deprived of an environmental source of titanium and vanadium, are capable of transmuting those elements from copper and iron.

[]The green biochrome pigment chlorophyll binds magnesium and oxygen atoms, implicating a resonant atomic fusion reaction forming sulfur and phosphorus and releasing soft multi-photon radiation in the visible light range. []Magnesium atoms split oxygen to form helium, hydrogen and sulfur atoms. Resonant fusion reactions occurring in green chlorophyll molecules produce hydrogen, helium, sulfur and unstable sulfur (S31) atoms, with a half-life of 2.572 seconds, undergoing positron emission during ß+ decay to form stable phosphorus (P31) atoms.

Phonon resonance determinations confirm this reaction occurs by frequency matching in the heat of daylight. Low energy fusion of magnesium atom pairs with oxygen atoms to form sulfur pairs occurs at the resonant frequency of unstable target isotope (S31) in its rest state -at 34,250,831 Hz. Magnesium starting isotope (Mg26) resonates at this exact phonon frequency during precision heating to 28.1°C.

Green terrestrial and aquatic plants, algae and phytoplankton species that produce chlorophyll for photosynthesis are able to optimize the fusion of magnesium and oxygen atoms in direct sunlight, which brings the sunlit surfaces of leaves and the oceans to the required resonance at 28.1°C.

[]The expansive Southern Ocean is also populated by warm-blooded mammals that developed a slightly different strategy to withstand the harsh sub-zero temperatures experienced in the depths of winter. Insulation provided by a thick fat layer maintains red blood circulation between 35 - 39°C within the bodies of whales and seals, whereby resonant atomic transmutation of iron into copper is enabled by phonon frequency matching of Fe57 atoms at 37.5°C with Cu65 atoms at rest. This resonant fusion reaction of iron and oxygen atoms that occurs in the hemoglobin of red-blooded mammals, and at a lower rate in the red-blooded fishes, cannot take place in icewater. Instead, a fission reaction has been effectively exploited by the near-freezing glass blood of the icefishes, which circulates much more slowly than the red blood of fish, sharks, seals and whales. Transparent blood and icefish tissue display levels of manganese that are a few hundred times greater than those of tropical fish, resulting from sustained nuclear transmutations of iron into hydrogen and manganese.

Such high concentrations of manganese in icefish cannot be explained as bioaccumulation products, but instead comprise solid evidence for perpetual resonant atomic reaction cascades releasing biophotons that are part of the essential vital processes enabling life within such harsh temperature extremes. Fission of iron atoms to form hydrogen and manganese atoms occurs at the resonant frequency of manganese target isotope (Mn55) at rest state: 43,416,442 Hz. Iron starting isotope (Fe58) resonates at this exact phonon frequency during precision cooling to 0.0°C

As shown, icefish metabolism can only occur at the freezing point of water. This Fe into H, Mn fission reaction was previously suggested after laboratory investigations of manganobacterial residues deposited on weathered ferruginous rocks, as well as prehistoric cave paintings made with iron-rich red ochre pigments (Kervran, 1964).

[]While land-based plant life thrives in specific habitat regions where crucial temperature resonance requirements are met, aquatic organisms undertake mass nocturnal migrations toward warmer surface waters to sustain the sensitive nuclear reaction cascades generating light within their bodies. The nightly rise of plankton and invertebrates up the water column thermocline has been explained as a feeding strategy to graze richer pelagic waters under protection of darkness, yet must be further understood as optimizing temperature-dependent phonon resonance reactions crucial to life.

The conversion of iron into copper employed by red-blooded animals is utilized in reverse as a fission reaction by blue-blooded marine animals (the cephalopods, gastropods and crustaceans) and a great variety of terrestrial and aquatic plant species (Kervran, 1964). Copper (Cu63) atoms release helium atom pairs to form manganese (Mn55) atoms, while copper (Cu65) atoms release helium atom pairs to form iron (Fe57) atoms

[]Resonant conversions of dietary copper into iron and manganese are employed by vast multitudes of lifeforms that do not regulate their own body temperatures, because the narrow temperature band required for such conversions lies very close to the mean ambient temperature in a great variety of habitats. However, careful calculation of phonon relationships reveal that frequency resonance of copper with iron and manganese cannot occur anywhere near ambient ocean temperatures.

These copper fission reactions constantly occurring in blue blood produce oxygen in the presence of hydrogen by phonon frequency matching of deuterium at 23.5°C with helium atoms at rest (20°C). The most common heavy isotope of hydrogen, deuterium is present in the rivers, lakes, seas and oceans at trace levels near 0.0156%. Aquatic organisms of all kinds inhabiting the ocean's pelagic zones exploit helium-producing phonon resonance reaction cascades by following a rising and falling band of seawater near 23.5°C, while light hydrogen cooled to 13.8°C resonates with oxygen at rest.

Despite significant differences in atomic mass and density between the two elements, hydrogen and oxygen atoms actually present similar atomic diameters, thereby allowing phonon resonance to occur very close to the rest state. This intriguing fact allows the phonon vibrations of hydrogen atoms absorbed into metal nanoparticles to instill metal atoms with the resonant target frequency of oxygen.

Resonant nuclear fission of pairs of copper atoms to form oxygen, manganese and iron occurs at the resonant frequency of target isotope (O16) in its rest state --at 3,775,138 Hz. Copper starting isotopes (Cu63, Cu65) become instilled with the phonon frequency of oxygen target isotope (O16) by the vibrations of absorbed hydrogen (H1) atoms within the metal lattice, during precision cooling to 13.8°C

Similar fission reactions can be induced in iron atoms at the same resonant 13.8°C temperature, whereby terrestrial and aquatic plants are able to convert iron into calcium, as also exploited by cold-blooded animals in the growth of bone, carapace, protective shell or eggshell

The cascade of oxygen-producing reactions at 13.8°C proceeds with an additional step following the same isotopic conversion pattern, involving transmutation of calcium into oxygen and magnesium

The most unusual atomic conversions taking place in the animal kingdom have raised eyebrows among biophysicists for years, who have been unable to satisfactorily account for the exceedingly high concentrations of exotic metals in the bodies of sea squirts, and virtually all ascidian species. Titanium is the exotic byproduct of resonant conversions of copper into oxygen in green-blooded species that can also be induced at the calculated phonon frequency resonance threshold of 13.8°C

Just as blue-blooded animals utilize copper, green-blooded animals also rely on the close phonon frequency matching of hydrogen and oxygen atoms to induce resonant nuclear conversions of iron. Trace metal analyses of the green blood of tunicates reveal high concentrations of rare metals within tunichrome blood pigments that comprise solid evidence of low energy nuclear transmutations.

The blood of Pyura chilensis contains high levels of iron and titanium while Ascidia dispar presents high levels of iron, titanium and vanadium (Roman et al., 1988). The predominant nuclear reactions releasing biophoton cascades in green blood involve the fission of iron atoms during precision heating to 23.5°C, producing helium, titanium and vanadium atoms

The four stable isotopes of iron can only be converted into four of the five stable isotopes of titanium, indicating isotopic shifts may be expressed in Ti47 depletion. In the case of human blood, perpetual Cu65 enhancement provides definitive confirmation of ongoing resonant conversions of iron into copper. Further studies of tunicate metabolism may establish if ascidians, when deprived of an environmental source of titanium and vanadium, are capable of transmuting those elements from copper and iron.

[]During heat stress, as skin passes 49°C, sweat gland secretions transmute sodium into potassium.

When inhaled, nitrogen heated >413°C converts into carbon monoxide on contact with lung tissue.

[]Preliminary research by C.L. Kervran provided the first coherent evidence for this counter-intuitive biological mechanism being the result of low energy nuclear transmutations taking place within the body itself, suggesting that supplementing levels of other crucial elements may achieve rebalancing of bone calcium during depletion. To this end, simple dietary trials were conducted that revealed horsetail tea effectively increases calcium levels in the body by supplying silicon for conversion into calcium.

[]Digitally-controlled phonon resonance reactors now enable replication of low energy nuclear reactions perpetually taking place during bone formation. Red blood cells supply the starting element used by the body to accomplish low energy transmutation of potassium into calcium that accounts for the significant isotopic variation of mineralized bone calcium from dietary calcium and tissues.

During blood circulation through the fine network of Haversian canals that course through compact bone, potassium atoms within erythrocytes maintain rhythmic temperature fluctuations between 37-38°C that trigger the resonant conversion reaction. Each oxygen-bound atom of potassium isotope (K41) releases a single hydrogen atom during the formation of stable atoms of calcium isotope (Ca40): K19/41 + O8/16 = H1/1 + Ca20/40 + O8/16

This reaction occurs simultaneously with closely related atomic conversion cascades that also include Zn => Cu, Cu => Ni, Ni => Co, Fe => Mn, Mn => Cr and Cr => V. This extensive series of reactions is facilitated within red blood cells by phonon frequency matching at the median temperature that is closely maintained within the core of the body, where the heart is located. The bones of the body are also well insulated from heat loss by muscle, fat and skin layers, comprising the core of each extremity.

Transmutation of potassium into calcium in vertebrate bone is enabled by phonon frequency matching of potassium-bound oxygen atoms with hydrogen atoms at rest state. The resonant frequency of hydrogen isotope (H1) in its rest state is 3,773,180 Hz, according to the element's atomic diameter at 20°C. Oxygen isotope (O16) resonates at this same frequency when heated to 37.8°C

These phonon resonance determinations suggest that potassium deficiency, in particular, negatively influences the body's ability to rebalance calcium production levels, leading to gradual bone mineral loss. A balanced diet including potassium-rich foods is therefore recommended, especially white beans, dark leafy greens, baked potatoes and acorn squash, avocados, dried apricots, mushrooms and bananas, as well as herbal beverages such as horsetail tea.

neutron emissions from brittle rocks failure

Electromagnetic and neutron emissions from brittle rocks failure: Experimental evidence and geological implications

A CARPINTERI, G LACIDOGNA, O BORLA, A MANUELLO and G NICCOLINI

Politecnico di Torino, Department of Structural Engineering and Geotechnics, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24 – 10129 Torino, Italy
National Institute of Nuclear Physics, INFN Via Pietro Giuria 1 – 10125 Torino, Italy

National Research Institute of Metrology, INRIM Strada delle Cacce 91 – 10135 Torino, Italy

e-mail: alberto.carpinteri@polito.it

Abstract.
It has been observed energy emission in the form of electromagnetic radiation, clearly indicating charge redistribution, and neutron bursts, necessarily involving nuclear reactions, during the failure process of quasi-brittle materials such as rocks, when subjected to compression tests. The material used is Luserna stone, which presents a very brittle behaviour during compression failure.

The observed phenomenon of high-energy particle emission, i.e., electrons and neutrons, can be explained in the framework of the superradiance applied to the solid state, where individual atoms lose their identity and become part of different plasmas, electronic and nuclear.

Since the analysed material contains iron, it can be  conjectured that piezonuclear reactions involving fission of iron into aluminum, or into magnesium and silicon, should have occurred during compression damage and failure.

These complex phenomenologies are confirmed by Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) tests conducted on Luserna stone specimens, and found additional evidences at the Earth’s Crust scale, where electromagnetic and neutron emissions are observed just in correspondence with major earthquakes. In this context, the effects of piezonuclear reactions can be also considered from a geophysical and geological point of view.

[] It is possible to demonstrate experimentally that the failure phenomena, in particular when they occur in a brittle way, i.e., with a mechanical energy release, emit additional forms of energy related to the fundamental natural forces.

The authors have found increasing experimental evidence that energy emission of different forms occurs from solid-state fractures. The tests were carried out at the Laboratory of Fracture Mechanics of the Politecnico di Torino, Italy. By subjecting quasi-brittle materials such as granitic rocks to compression tests, for the first time the bursts of neutron emission during the failure process is observed, necessarily involving nuclear reactions, besides the well-known acoustic emission (AE), and the phenomenon of electromagnetic radiation (EM), which is highly suggestive of charge redistribution during material failure and at present
under investigation.

[] We are treating with inert, stable and non-radioactive elements at the beginning of the experiments (iron), as well as after the experiments (aluminum). Neither radioactive wastes, nor gamma emissions were recorded, but only thermal and fast neutron emissions. As confirmation of this observation, the results of Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), performed on samples coming from the Luserna stone, a metamorphic rock deriving from a granitoid protolith, specimens used in the experiments, show that, on the fracture surfaces, a considerable reduction in the iron content (-25%) is counterbalanced by an increase in Al, Si and Mg concentrations.

[] Classically during the process of nuclear fission, a neutron strikes a heavy nucleus that splits into two lighter fragments. Each of the two fragments consists of a nucleus with roughly half the neutrons and protons of the original nucleus. This fission process releases a large amount of energy and gamma rays are emitted as well as two or more neutrons that are no longer bound by the fission fragments.

Instead, piezonuclear fission reactions consist in new nuclear reactions produced by new methods such as pressure, fracture or cavitation. Even small deviations from classical assumptions, e.g., from the concept of average bond energy per nucleon, could explain these new phenomena. It would suffice to assume a weak section within the nucleus, as it happens in very hard and strong rocks, that nevertheless cleave under very low stresses. Moreover, the main and peculiar characteristic of piezonuclear reactions is neutron production without gamma emission. This physical phenomenon could be the signature of a new physics of nuclear interactions, as it is theoretically and experimentally discussed in the literature.

[] Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) was performed on different samples of external or fracture surfaces belonging to granite specimens used in the piezonuclear tests. For each sample, different measurements of the same crystalline phases (phengite or biotite) were performed in order to get averaged information of its chemical composition and to detect possible piezonuclear transmutations from iron to lighter elements. Considering the results for phengite and biotite, and also their abundances in the Luserna stone composition, a considerable reduction in the iron content (∼25%) is observed. This iron decrease is consistently counterbalanced by an increase in aluminum, silicon and magnesium. In particular, the increase in aluminum content corresponds to 85% of the iron decrease. Therefore, the following piezonuclear fission reactions should have occurred in granitic rocks during the piezonuclear tests:

Fe 56/26 → 2Al 27/13 + 2 neutrons, (1)
Fe 56/26 → Mg 24/12 + Si 28/14 + 4 neutrons. (2)

[] It has been recently reported that electromagnetic phenomena take place in a wide frequency range prior to an earthquake, and these precursory seismo-electromagnetic effects are expected to be useful for the mitigation of earthquake hazards. The generation of electromagnetic emissions during earthquakes has been verified also in laboratory experiments involving fracturing of quartz-bearing rocks.

Similar to the case of EME coming from fracture phenomena, the neutron emissions involved in piezonuclear reactions have been detected not only in laboratory experiments but also at the Earth’s crust scale. Recent neutron emission detections [] have led to consider also the Earth’s crust, in addition to cosmic rays, as being a relevant source of neutron flux variations. Neutron emissions measured near the Earth’s surface exceeded the neutron background by more than three orders of magnitude in correspondence to seismic activity and rather appreciable earthquakes. This relationship between the processes in the Earth’s crust, EM emissions and neutron flux variations has allowed to develop new methods for short-term prediction and monitoring of earthquakes.

Taking into account that granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, sialic, igneous rock, and that it is characterized by an extensive concentration in the rocks that make up the Earth’s crust (∼60% of the Earth’s crust), the piezonuclear fission reactions considered above can be generalized from the laboratory to the Earth’s crust scale, where mechanical phenomena of brittle fracture, due to fault collision and subduction, take place continuously in the most seismic areas of the globe. This hypothesis seems to find surprising evidence and confirmation from both the geomechanical and the geochemical points of view.

The present natural abundances of aluminum (~8%), silicon (∼28%) and magnesium (∼1.3%) and scarcity of iron (∼4%) in the continental Earth’s crust are possibly due to the piezonuclear fission reactions (1 and 2) expressed above. In addition, considering the percentage mass concentrations of other chemical elements, such as Na (∼2.9%), Ni (∼0.01%), and Co (∼0.003%), in the continental crust, it is possible to conjecture additional piezonuclear fission reactions that could have taken place in correspondence to plate collision and subduction:

Co 59/27 → Al 27/13 + Si 28/14 + 4 neutrons (3)
Ni 59/28 → 2Si 28/14 + 3 neutrons, (4)
Ni 59/28 → Na 23/11 + Cl 35/17 + 1 neutron. (5)

The large concentrations of granite minerals, such as quartz and feldspar (SiO2,Al2O3) in the Earth’s crust, and to a lesser extent of magnesite, halite, and zeolite (MgO, Na2O, Cl2O3), and the low concentrations of magnetite, hematite, bunsenite and cobaltite minerals (composed predominantly of Fe, Co, and Ni), could be ascribed to piezonuclear reactions (1,2,3,4 and 5) due to tectonic and subduction phenomena.

[] The localization of Al and Fe mineral reservoirs seems to be closely connected to the geological periods when different continental zones were formed. This fact would seem to suggest that our planet has undergone a continuous evolution from the most ancient geological regions, which currently reflect the continental cores that are rich in Fe reservoirs, to more recent or contemporary areas of the Earth’s crust where the concentrations of Si and Al oxides present very high mass percentages. [] The geographical locations of main bauxite mines show that the largest concentrations of Al reservoirs can be found in correspondence to the most seismic areas of the Earth []. The main iron mines are instead exclusively located in the oldest and interior parts of continents (formed through the eruptive activity of the proto-Earth), in geographic areas with a reduced seismic risk and always far from the main fault lines. From this point of view, the close correlation between bauxite and andesitic reservoirs and the subduction and most seismic areas of the Earth’s crust provides very impressive evidence of piezonuclear effects at the planetary scale.

[] Evidence of piezonuclear reactions can be also recognized considering the Earth’s composition and its evolution throughout the geologic eras. In this way, plate tectonics and the connected plate collision and subduction phenomena are useful to understand not only the morphology of our planet, but also its compositional evolution.

From 4.0 to 2.0 Gyr ago, Fe could be considered one of the most common bio-essential elements required for the metabolic action of all living organisms. Today, the deficiency of this nutrient suggests it as a limiting factor for the development of marine phytoplankton and life on Earth. Elements such as Fe and Ni in the Earth’s protocrust had higher concentrations in the Hadean (4.5–3.8 Gyr ago) and Archean (3.8–2.5 Gyr ago) periods compared to the present values. The Si and Al concentrations instead were lower than they are today.

[] A clear transition from a more basaltic condition (high concentrations of Fe and Ni) to a Sialic one (high concentrations of Al and Si) can be observed during the life time of our planet. The most abrupt changes in element concentrations [] appear to be intimately connected to the tectonic activity of the Earth. The vertical drops in the concentrations of Fe and Ni, as well as the vertical jumps in the concentrations of Si and Al, 3.8 Gyr ago, coincide with the time that many scientists have pointed out as the beginning of tectonic activity on the Earth. The subsequent abrupt transitions 2.5 Gyr ago coincide with the period of the Earth’s largest and most intense tectonic activity. [] the decrease in the mass concentration of iron and nickel is balanced by the increase in Al and Si and assuming an increase in Mg, according to reaction (2), equal to that of Si over the Earth’s lifetime. [] a total decrease of ∼7% in Fe and Ni concentrations and a consistent increase of ∼7% in the lighter chemical element concentrations (Mg, Al and Si) between the Hadean period (Hadean Eon, 4.5–3.8 Gyr ago) and the Archean period (Archean Eon, 3.8–2.5 Gyr ago) []. Similarly, a decrease of ∼ 5% in the heavier elements (Fe and Ni) and a related increase (∼5%) in the concentrations of lighter ones (Mg, Al and Si) can be considered between the Archean period (Archean Eon, 3.8–2.5 billion years ago) and more recent times. The Earth’s protocrust in the Hadean era was strongly basaltic, with a composition similar to that of the proto-planets (chondrites).

[] As a matter of fact, Mg is not only a resulting element, as shown by piezonuclear reaction (2), but can also be considered as a starting element of another possible piezonuclear reaction:

Mg 24/12 → 2C 12/6. (6)

Reaction (6) could be very important for the evolution of both the Earth’s crust and the Earth’s atmosphere, and considered as a valid explanation for the high level of CO2 concentration (∼15%) in the Archean Earth’s atmosphere. In addition, the large amount of C produced by Mg transformation (∼3.5% of the Earth’s crust) has undergone a slow but continuous diminishing in the CO2 composition of the Earth’s atmosphere, as a result of the escape which also involves other atmospheric gases like He and H.

Piezonuclear reaction (6) can also be put into correlation with the increase in seismic activity that has occurred over the last century. Very recent evidence has shown CO2 emissions in correspondence to seismic activity: significant changes in the emission of carbon dioxide were recorded in a geochemical station at El Hierro, in the Canary Islands, before the occurrence of several seismic events during the year 2004. Appreciable precursory CO2 emissions were observed to start before seismic events of relevant magnitude, and to reach their maximum values some days before the earthquakes.

Volpierre process notes by Fischer-Lichtenthal and NDC

ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE ALCHEMISTICAL OPUS

Its contents and procedure, describing how to obtain the quinta essentia by the great wet way

By Heinz Fischer-Lichtenthal

In the first part of the Great Work (Opus Magnum) consisting of three parts, any metal carefully dissolved in acid in an artful manner will yield a red juice (menstruum, Blood of the Red Lion.) In such manner a substance will be returned to a certain degree to its, primordial condition (chaos), becoming a useful medium capable of extracting the essential vitality found in all creation and then being able to retain it, i.e., such agens that is superior to inherent atomic power as we understand it presently.

In the second part a 'menstruum universal' (radical solvent, Virgin's Milk, Flying Dragon) can be obtained from the red juice and its residue through gradual and repeated distillation wherein all natural essentials can be dissolved while their inherent characteristics are still retained.

It contains the Flying Mercury in the form of tiny silver colored scales, like salt, which evaporate quickly when separated from the liquid. Furthermore, from part of the distillation of the yellow vinegar a residue is obtained. This residue consists of two powders (volatile salts) which form on the bottom of the glass container, in the shape of eliptical particles laying next to each other in a north-south direction. One of them is white (hermetical Salt) and the other of a yellowish color (hermetical Sulphur.)

The final result is obtained only in the third part when all three mentioned salts are fixed. This is the 'cementation'. By joining (cohobation) of such quinta essentia which does not dissolve them, the final tincture will give to it the desired character and becomes the Great Tincture. The latter is identical with the Philosopher's Stone.

Begin by mixing one part powdered antimony trisulphide and six parts iron filings in a five litre (5,000 ml), wide necked, glass bottle with ground joint and stopper. Evenly cover the bottom by not more than 3/4 cm.

Next, three pourings on the antimony and iron filings must take place consisting of 3 ml of hydrochloric acid and 2 ml of sulphuric acid every 24 hours.

Immediately a strong reaction caused by fuming gases makes it imperative that the container be closed very tightly. No antimony particles must be found between the ground stopper and the flask opening. It is best to moisten the stopper with sulphuric acid. Fasten the stopper with some string using two cork stoppers, one on each side, to tighten the string.

Each time some acid has been poured over the mixture place the glass container in a sandbath at a temperature of 370 - 380C. Let the bottle slowly cool before adding more acid. After the bottle has cooled carefully pour in both acids very gradually and stopper at once. The glass stopper may be removed by inserting strong string tightly between the stopper and the neck of the bottle, then with a uniform jerk on both sides of the stopper, lift it out. Fast work is essential; none of the fumes must escape. Close the bottle very tightly each time after more acid is added.

Beginning with the fourth pouring there is a change of proportion when adding more acid. It is now 6ml. hydrochloric acid and 41/2 ml. sulphuric acid which is to be repeated every fourth day. This schedule must be adhered to no matter what the contents of the container shows. The temperature must be kept'the same as before, except for the short period when more acid is added. Should little lumps show or the substance have a tendency to stick too tightly into a solid mass, use a glass stirring rod and carefully break it up. Be careful not to break the bottom of the retort. Should the glass show a crack a new vessel must be used and the work started anew.

The change of color is as follows:

Dark gray, slight sparkle
pitch black to blue-black
dark gray
light gray
dark brown
light brown
very light gray, almost white
a bluish white
gray, like ice
pure white
glowing green
olive-green
yellowish green

Then a dark floating ring, 2cm. thick, ascending, getting heavier and darker, (blue-black) enters the mass, which has risen from the bottom to a height of 15 or 16 cm. The color changes from dark blue to light blue, deep, dark blue, now giving off a radiance. Blood red lines begin to rise from the bottom on the side of the vessel. When after circulating for three or four months the rising red juice has reached the top of the mass, the process has reached its sign of development and is concluded.

This juice or tincture can be carefully poured off in any desired quantity. From now on the acids may be added in the same order as before, but in ten to thirty fold quantities or even more, depending on the available space in the container. The mass will dissolve at once.

This solution is kept in special glass bottles for later use. When not enough containers are available only as much as is needed should be dissolved for the work at hand. It is surprising how much acid is necessary to completely dissolve the contents in the glass container.

When shaking the glass container the juice has to show a green lustre. An additional brown coloration shows that the liquid up to this stage has become useless.

The red juice is a natural separation from the Original Chaos. It contains the main element, the 'carrier of light' (Phosphorus-the inner light-fire that burns, but does not consume itself) which manifests in all four elements. Chaos or prima materia is the beginning of matter as we know it. Strength is increased when the corpora is reduced. By too high a heat the fine penetrating fumes (Spirit) would evaporate.

The preliminaries are the beginning of the work and these should be commenced if possible during a fortunate trine such as Mercury trine Jupiter, or trine Venus, or trine the Sun, or a trine with a well aspected Mars.

As much as eighty litres, approximately twenty gallons of the menstruum, has been obtained out of a five litre bottle, approximately one gallon and a quarter.

---

A 250ml. retort is filled three quarters full of Dragon's Blood. Begin the distillation with a small flame and have in readiness three Erlenmeyer 50ml. flasks. Each liquid will be collected separately. Using a low flame, first, the yellow vinegar (Hydrochloric acid) comes over, thereafter the phlegm which is entirely worthless and can be thrown away.

When nothing more comes over by the small flame, fine threads, rising from the bottom to the top, shows on the side of the retort and announces that the sulphuric acid is about to distill over. The receptacle is changed again and the heat is raised. Toward the end the bellows or more oxygen will have to be used to distill the rest of the sulphuric acid. The retort can be glowing red during the last proecdure. Then let the retort cool and break it.

Remove the remains from the broken retort, grind in a mortar and submit for three weeks in a dish to the moist air, preferably in a cellar away from any light. It is hygroscopic and becomes slimy and finally thick like honey. Place this in a 100ml. retort using a small funnel and glass rod. The neck of the retort must be washed down with the 'Air-water' to be certain that the neck is absolutely clean.

[NDC: At this point the retort can be broken and the contents ground to a powder, but this is not necessary. If the retort is simply left open and placed outside during the time of moring dew every day for a few weeks, it will absorb the water and become fluid.]

Distillation is started with a low flame. Steam will form,, condensing in the neck, and will flow out. When the water has distilled out the steam gets more dense, like fumes, and the distillation must be stopped. Let the retort cool, then break it. Remove the contents and grind in a mortar. Place the contents from the mortar in an evaporating dish, and pour the yellow vinegar over it. There is no danger in this. Then carefully pour the sulphuric acid slowly through a funnel. Take care as it may splash.

The two acids combined turn to red and make a loud noise while doing so. Once again we have the product with which we began. The first part of our work is completed when the red liquid is poured through a funnel into a 250ml. retort and provision made for a repetition of the same process.

---

The described procedure must be repeated four to six times until the Flying Dragon appears. This can occur during the fifth, sixth, or seventh distillation. One must be especially careful, because our Phoenix can rise suddenly, boiling to the top and flowing out. Quick and efficient changing of the receiving flask is important for this separation.

After Luna has left us, distillation is continued under the same temperature until next the phlegm-like water distills completely over. Continuing the distillation by a lower heat than formerly used, the sulphuric acid comes over.

[NDC: It will appear suddenly as a white cloud of smoke and the receiver flask must be changed quickly to catch the cloud when it condenses into a white solvent. This event takes place right after the hydrochloric acid is distilled. Then after the Philosophical Mercury has distilled, the receiver must be changed again because the useless phelgm water will begin to distill. The sulfuric acid then comes over but now such a strong heat is not required to distill it.]

In the remaining water in the retort a peculiar residue forms on the bottom. Next to each other, but separated from each other, a yellow and white salt will appear in an eliptical north-south formation. Both are volatile and can only be kept in their own water. The same applies to the silver-like scales noticed in the residue.

In case too much moisture has been distilled off the salts and the liquid is not sufficient to cover the bottom of the vessel, some of the distillate must be returned. Without this liquid the volatile Salt and Sulphur would evaporate within twenty-four hours, but in the absence of light it would take longer.

It is recommended during the distillation either to extend the neck of the retort with a glass tube for better cooling, or to use a water cooled condenser. To use the remaining recovered Sulphur again is not recommended!


[NDC: The Philosophical Mercury along with it's silver particles are poured into a flask with the Salt and Sulfur and the flask is stoppered tightly. It's digested on low heat until the 3 substances become one solid red stone which has a distinct sparkle or twinkle unlike anything else, which signifies this being the true Philosopher's Stone.

The strength and power of the Stone can be multiplied until the Stone can no longer be kept in a glass and will penetarte it, turning it into a material as hard as steel but as clear as glass. Using a quartz container or hard glass (Pyrex, Bomex, or Kimax borsilicate glass) higher potencies can be obtained. To multiply the stone, place it in a flask then add just enough Philosophical Mercury to dissolve it entirely, the seal the flask and digest it on gently heat until it again becomes a solid mass.]

---

Formerly the work was conducted solely with natural ingredients. Acids used by the old Masters with their specific characteristics are now hard to obtain or unknown today.

From a chemical point of view we consider hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid and nitric acid. The latter we can do without for some of the procedures. Hydrochloric acid and sulphuric acid useable for the work described was produced by the Chemical Industry in Europe as little as a few decades ago in a so-called Lead Chamber Process. Raw materials used were native sodium nitrate from the Alsace in France, native Vitriol (copper sulphate) from the mines in the Harz Mountains, or Hungary, etc., and red arsenic-sulphur
from Sicily. Common yellow sulphur was found to be useless for producing acid to be used alchemistically.

[NDC: The acids used in this process must be of natural origin and made using the lead chamber process. The sulphuric acid can be made from native copper sulphate (VITRIOL), common yellow sulfur will not work, and the hydrochloric from natural salts sources. If preparing the tincture from gold instead of antimony, nitric acid will be required along with hydrochloric acid and the sulfuric acid is still used. Natural sodium nitrate is used to make the nitric acid.]

On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs

http://www.strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/

Ever had the feeling that your job might be made up? That the world would keep on turning if you weren’t doing that thing you do 9-5? David Graeber explored the phenomenon of bullshit jobs for our recent summer issue – everyone who’s employed should read carefully…


On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber.
In the year 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that, by century’s end, technology would have advanced sufficiently that countries like Great Britain or the United States would have achieved a 15-hour work week. There’s every reason to believe he was right. In technological terms, we are quite capable of this. And yet it didn’t happen. Instead, technology has been marshaled, if anything, to figure out ways to make us all work more. In order to achieve this, jobs have had to be created that are, effectively, pointless. Huge swathes of people, in Europe and North America in particular, spend their entire working lives performing tasks they secretly believe do not really need to be performed. The moral and spiritual damage that comes from this situation is profound. It is a scar across our collective soul. Yet virtually no one talks about it.

Why did Keynes’ promised utopia – still being eagerly awaited in the ‘60s – never materialise? The standard line today is that he didn’t figure in the massive increase in consumerism. Given the choice between less hours and more toys and pleasures, we’ve collectively chosen the latter. This presents a nice morality tale, but even a moment’s reflection shows it can’t really be true. Yes, we have witnessed the creation of an endless variety of new jobs and industries since the ‘20s, but very few have anything to do with the production and distribution of sushi, iPhones, or fancy sneakers.
So what are these new jobs, precisely? A recent report comparing employment in the US between 1910 and 2000 gives us a clear picture (and I note, one pretty much exactly echoed in the UK). Over the course of the last century, the number of workers employed as domestic servants, in industry, and in the farm sector has collapsed dramatically. At the same time, “professional, managerial, clerical, sales, and service workers” tripled, growing “from one-quarter to three-quarters of total employment.” In other words, productive jobs have, just as predicted, been largely automated away (even if you count industrial workers globally, including the toiling masses in India and China, such workers are still not nearly so large a percentage of the world population as they used to be).

But rather than allowing a massive reduction of working hours to free the world’s population to pursue their own projects, pleasures, visions, and ideas, we have seen the ballooning not even so much of the “service” sector as of the administrative sector, up to and including the creation of whole new industries like financial services or telemarketing, or the unprecedented expansion of sectors like corporate law, academic and health administration, human resources, and public relations. And these numbers do not even reflect on all those people whose job is to provide administrative, technical, or security support for these industries, or for that matter the whole host of ancillary industries (dog-washers, all-night pizza deliverymen) that only exist because everyone else is spending so much of their time working in all the other ones.

These are what I propose to call “bullshit jobs.”

It’s as if someone were out there making up pointless jobs just for the sake of keeping us all working. And here, precisely, lies the mystery. In capitalism, this is precisely what is not supposed to happen. Sure, in the old inefficient socialist states like the Soviet Union, where employment was considered both a right and a sacred duty, the system made up as many jobs as they had to (this is why in Soviet department stores it took three clerks to sell a piece of meat). But, of course, this is the sort of very problem market competition is supposed to fix. According to economic theory, at least, the last thing a profit-seeking firm is going to do is shell out money to workers they don’t really need to employ. Still, somehow, it happens.

While corporations may engage in ruthless downsizing, the layoffs and speed-ups invariably fall on that class of people who are actually making, moving, fixing and maintaining things; through some strange alchemy no one can quite explain, the number of salaried paper-pushers ultimately seems to expand, and more and more employees find themselves, not unlike Soviet workers actually, working 40 or even 50 hour weeks on paper, but effectively working 15 hours just as Keynes predicted, since the rest of their time is spent organizing or attending motivational seminars, updating their facebook profiles or downloading TV box-sets.

The answer clearly isn’t economic: it’s moral and political. The ruling class has figured out that a happy and productive population with free time on their hands is a mortal danger (think of what started to happen when this even began to be approximated in the ‘60s). And, on the other hand, the feeling that work is a moral value in itself, and that anyone not willing to submit themselves to some kind of intense work discipline for most of their waking hours deserves nothing, is extraordinarily convenient for them.

Once, when contemplating the apparently endless growth of administrative responsibilities in British academic departments, I came up with one possible vision of hell. Hell is a collection of individuals who are spending the bulk of their time working on a task they don’t like and are not especially good at. Say they were hired because they were excellent cabinet-makers, and then discover they are expected to spend a great deal of their time frying fish. Neither does the task really need to be done – at least, there’s only a very limited number of fish that need to be fried. Yet somehow, they all become so obsessed with resentment at the thought that some of their co-workers might be spending more time making cabinets, and not doing their fair share of the fish-frying responsibilities, that before long there’s endless piles of useless badly cooked fish piling up all over the workshop and it’s all that anyone really does.
I think this is actually a pretty accurate description of the moral dynamics of our own economy.

Now, I realise any such argument is going to run into immediate objections: “who are you to say what jobs are really ‘necessary’? What’s necessary anyway? You’re an anthropology professor, what’s the ‘need’ for that?” (And indeed a lot of tabloid readers would take the existence of my job as the very definition of wasteful social expenditure.) And on one level, this is obviously true. There can be no objective measure of social value.

I would not presume to tell someone who is convinced they are making a meaningful contribution to the world that, really, they are not. But what about those people who are themselves convinced their jobs are meaningless? Not long ago I got back in touch with a school friend who I hadn’t seen since I was 12. I was amazed to discover that in the interim, he had become first a poet, then the front man in an indie rock band. I’d heard some of his songs on the radio having no idea the singer was someone I actually knew. He was obviously brilliant, innovative, and his work had unquestionably brightened and improved the lives of people all over the world. Yet, after a couple of unsuccessful albums, he’d lost his contract, and plagued with debts and a newborn daughter, ended up, as he put it, “taking the default choice of so many directionless folk: law school.” Now he’s a corporate lawyer working in a prominent New York firm. He was the first to admit that his job was utterly meaningless, contributed nothing to the world, and, in his own estimation, should not really exist.

There’s a lot of questions one could ask here, starting with, what does it say about our society that it seems to generate an extremely limited demand for talented poet-musicians, but an apparently infinite demand for specialists in corporate law? (Answer: if 1% of the population controls most of the disposable wealth, what we call “the market” reflects what they think is useful or important, not anybody else.) But even more, it shows that most people in these jobs are ultimately aware of it. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever met a corporate lawyer who didn’t think their job was bullshit. The same goes for almost all the new industries outlined above. There is a whole class of salaried professionals that, should you meet them at parties and admit that you do something that might be considered interesting (an anthropologist, for example), will want to avoid even discussing their line of work entirely. Give them a few drinks, and they will launch into tirades about how pointless and stupid their job really is.

This is a profound psychological violence here. How can one even begin to speak of dignity in labour when one secretly feels one’s job should not exist? How can it not create a sense of deep rage and resentment. Yet it is the peculiar genius of our society that its rulers have figured out a way, as in the case of the fish-fryers, to ensure that rage is directed precisely against those who actually do get to do meaningful work. For instance: in our society, there seems a general rule that, the more obviously one’s work benefits other people, the less one is likely to be paid for it.  Again, an objective measure is hard to find, but one easy way to get a sense is to ask: what would happen were this entire class of people to simply disappear? Say what you like about nurses, garbage collectors, or mechanics, it’s obvious that were they to vanish in a puff of smoke, the results would be immediate and catastrophic. A world without teachers or dock-workers would soon be in trouble, and even one without science fiction writers or ska musicians would clearly be a lesser place. It’s not entirely clear how humanity would suffer were all private equity CEOs, lobbyists, PR researchers, actuaries, telemarketers, bailiffs or legal consultants to similarly vanish. (Many suspect it might markedly improve.) Yet apart from a handful of well-touted exceptions (doctors), the rule holds surprisingly well.
Even more perverse, there seems to be a broad sense that this is the way things should be. This is one of the secret strengths of right-wing populism. You can see it when tabloids whip up resentment against tube workers for paralysing London during contract disputes: the very fact that tube workers can paralyse London shows that their work is actually necessary, but this seems to be precisely what annoys people. It’s even clearer in the US, where Republicans have had remarkable success mobilizing resentment against school teachers, or auto workers (and not, significantly, against the school administrators or auto industry managers who actually cause the problems) for their supposedly bloated wages and benefits. It’s as if they are being told “but you get to teach children! Or make cars! You get to have real jobs! And on top of that you have the nerve to also expect middle-class pensions and health care?”
If someone had designed a work regime perfectly suited to maintaining the power of finance capital, it’s hard to see how they could have done a better job. Real, productive workers are relentlessly squeezed and exploited. The remainder are divided between a terrorised stratum of the, universally reviled, unemployed and a larger stratum who are basically paid to do nothing, in positions designed to make them identify with the perspectives and sensibilities of the ruling class (managers, administrators, etc) – and particularly its financial avatars – but, at the same time, foster a simmering resentment against anyone whose work has clear and undeniable social value. Clearly, the system was never consciously designed. It emerged from almost a century of trial and error. But it is the only explanation for why, despite our technological capacities, we are not all working 3-4 hour days.

David Graeber is a Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics. His most recent book, The Democracy Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement, is published by Spiegel & Grau.

Hydrides and Anhydrides

Hydrides and Anhydrides
C. Warren Hunt
1119 Sydenham Road SW
CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA T2T 0T5
Tel. (403)-244-3341, Fax (403) 244-2834
E-mail: archeanc@telusplanet.net
Hydrogen being 90% or more of all matter in the Universe, must have been abundantly present in the formation of the early earth. The consensus among scientists has been that most primordial hydrogen was expelled as the earth accreted. New evidence challenges the consensus raises questions as to the validity of other long-held geological concepts.
The new evidence involves the behavior of hydrogen nucleii, which at pressures characteristic of mantle depths have shed their electrons and inject themselves inside the first electron rings of metal atoms. Thus sequestered within the earth, hydrogen may comprise as much as 30-40 percent of total earth mass today.
Hydrogen penetration into metals was demonstrated by Vladimir N. Larin, a geologist, whose project over the last 34 years has been research in the USSR and FSU on sources of natural hydrogen. Three major effects result from the phenomenon: (1) transmutation, (2) densification, and (3) fluidization.
The following diagram from Larin’s laboratory illustrates the mass that is added to transmuted potassium by hydrogen gas at pressure. The lower curve shows a 2.75% increase in density for the metal alone, rising from ~0.87 to ~2.4 g/cm³ and pressure up to ~30 Gpa. The upper curve shows a 4.25% increase in density of the metal in a hydrogen atmosphere, from ~0.87 to ~3.7 g/cm³ with the same pressure increase. Note the four distinct stages. The stages ascending are:

1. COVALENT ADSORPTION of H by K metal with DENSIFICATION from ~0,87 to ~1.65 g/cm³, nearly doubling the density without any pressure increase. The metal “sucks up” hydrogen.
2. INTRA-LATTICE ADSORPTION of H by K metal with DENSIFICATION from ~1.65 to ~2.0 g/cm³ with pressure rising from zero to 5 Gpa; hydrogen retains its electron.
3. INTRA-LATTICE OCCLUSION of H by K metal with DENSIFICATION from ~2.0 to ~2.35 g/cm³ without further pressure increase; hydrogen sheds its electron.
4. IONIC HYDRIDE where H nucleus penetrates the potassium atomic electron shell, thus effecting metal DENSIFICATION from ~2.35 to ~3.7 g/cm³ with a pressure increase from 5 Gpa to ~30 Gpa. Addition of mass to an atomic core is by definition transmutation. Thus, this stage transmutes potassium to intermetal.

Of the total densification to 4.25 times original density, 40% is in the two spontaneous densification stages, 1 and 3. Stage 4 comprises a further 48% of the densification, the nucleus-injection stage and transmutation stage. Its upper limit is unknown.
From this data it is easily shown that the excess core and mantle density above that of the crust can be attributed to injected hydrogen, and the density differences between inner core, outer core, and lower mantle can be treated as phase effects. In this scenario the idea of an iron core is superfluous.
V.N. Larin demonstrated the fluidity of titanium hydride for this writer by setting a ruby in plasticized titanium intermetal. Under reduced pressure the hydrogen bled off, allowing the metal to recrystallize and leave the ruby set firmly in metallic titanium.
The potassium and titanium behaviors are not unique. All elements but noble gases form hydrides, some readily, others not so readily. Thus, a mixture of non-metal hydrides and fluidic intermetals that comprised the interior of the primordial earth should undergo fractionation and coalescense of components on the basis of mobility and density differences.
Non-metal hydrides, H2O, NH3, H2S, CH4, that were present during accretion of the earth would have been the first to go. Expelled, they accumulated as atmosphere and hydrosphere. Solar wind bombardment and dissociation of non-metal hydrides allowed hydrogen to escape into space. This left residual oxygen and nitrogen to build up in the atmosphere, which then enabled a transformation in the biosphere. Replacement of the early Archean biota of hydrogen-tolerant prokaryotes by oxygen-tolerant eukaryotes in the late Archean is clear evidence of the conversion of the atmosphere at that time.
Intermetal hydride plumes would follow. Coalescing on the bases of differential fluidity and density, viscous intermetal plumes rise buoyantly through the mantle, perhaps lubricated by hydrides of the earth’s third most abundant element, the transition element, silicon. Rising into regimes of reduced pressure the intermetals dissociate or oxidize, creating crust in the forms of rock-forming minerals and metal ores.
The hydrides of silicon, the silanes (SiH4, Si2H6, Si3H8, Si4H10, etc.) are of special interest. Gases at standard conditions, they react vigorously with water, producing quartz, volcanic ash, and rock-forming minerals, depending on depth, pressure and the admixture of other metal hydrides. The high mobility of silane explains the mode of transfer of silicon from the interior to the oxidic crust. Crust then is the residue after silane and intermetal oxidation and release of hydrogen, which eventually escapes into space.
Carbon, the sister element of silicon, is a lesser component of earth makeup, but probably is prominent in the form of carbides in the interior. Its primary hydride form, methane (CH4), although energy-laden like silane, behaves quite differently in three important contrasting ways. First, it does not react with water; second, its combustion products are only gases; and third, it enables the biosphere.
Where silane is stalled in the crust by reacting with water, methane and hydrogen released by its partial oxidation proceed upward in fracture pathways. Methane and hydrogen seep into deep, shield mines and through porous members of sedimentary series. Both are major constituents of fluid inclusions in sub-oceanic basalts as well as in shield granites. Their migration is differentially impeded due to their different molecular sizes. Methane may be trapped temporarily, while hydrogen escapes. Both enter the atmosphere worldwide on a large scale.
Thus the hydridic earth image comprises a mobile inner geosphere of highly-reduced, dense, intermetals and carbides, an outer geosphere of oxidic rock that has accumulated incrementally through geological time, and a transient liquid-gas envelope. The image implies a core that is neither iron nor very hot, because the heat source for endogeny is primarily not primordial heat but the chemical energy released in the upper mantle and lower crust, near the crust-mantle boundary by hydride oxidation.
Hydrocarbons other than methane are partially oxidized carbon forms, and thus unlikely to occur in any form but methane in the earth’s interior where extreme reducing conditions prevail. When methane rises to outer crust levels from the interior, its chemical energy is available to metabolize bacteria and archaea that live there in total darkness at elevated temperatures. They get that energy by stripping hydrogen from the methane and oxidizing it metabolically.
When bacteria and archaea strip hydrogen from methane, they create “anhydrides” of methane, CH3, CH2, etc. Two CH3s combine to make C2H6, ethane; two CH3s and one CH2 make C3H8, propane, etc. The process is known on the surface, where outcrops of petroliferous strata sometimes are sealed by bacterially produced tar seals behind which live oil has accumulated. In this case, bacteria have stripped hydrogen from live oil, rendering it immobile. Anhydride theory merely extrapolates the process backward to explain stripping of methane, the lowest carbon numbered hydrocarbon. Petroleum can be interpreted as degenerated methane, a product of the biosphere. Petroleum produced by bacterial stripping of methane is, a mixture of anhydrides of methane, an organic product produced from inorganic methane.
Coal and oil shales are also anhydride products. In peat and kerogen-rich shales, partially oxidized carbon is present that has lost electrons and thus carries positive charges. By contrast, the carbon in methane that effuses from the highly reduced earth interior has acquired electrons and is negatively charged. Opposite charges cause capture of effusing methane by peat and kerogen. Once captured, methane is stripped progressively of its hydrogen by bacteria and archaea that naturally occur in the peat and kerogen.
The terminal anhydride, pure carbon, the main component of the purest coals and asphaltites, and protein molecules (porphyrins and others) that are found in petroleum and coal are molecular residues of organic origin. The fact that coal and oil shales have more carbon and hydrogen than their peat and fossil predecessors is clear evidence that fossils cannot fully explain their origins. These high carbon and hydrogen contents of oil shales and coals require abiogenic additions, whereas organic molecules require organic provenance. Methane and petroleum found in coal seams and organic shales should be seen as evidence of methane capture, not methane generation.
The topology of petroleum occurrence is a further defeat for the argument in favour of either an exclusively organic or exclusively abiogenic origin for petroleum. If oil were either rising from primordial sources in the earth’s interior or created in “oil windows” by catagenesis, the more mobile fractions would escape from the depths and be found more abundantly near the surface and less mobile fractions, low gravity oils, would be present at depth. Exactly the opposite is the norm. Methane gas, the most mobile hydrocarbon, is more abundant with depth, worldwide; and tars, the least mobile, are most abundant at and near the surface.
Working backwards through the above points, we can say that:

1. Topologies of hydrocarbon occurrences indicate that methane effuses from the interior, not petroleum; that
2. Topologies of hydrocarbon occurrences indicate that low-gravity oil is not generated at depth in oil windows; that
3. Methane beneficiates fossiliferous shales and peat deposits, creating oil shales and coal. Oil shales and coal do not generate methane; methane generates oil shales and coal; that
4. Bacteria and archaea in the outer crust strip hydrogen from methane progressively through condensates, high gravity oil, and low gravity oil, to bitumens; that
5. Hydrides of silicon and carbon along with intermetals rise into crustal levels where dissociation and oxidation liberate the heat of endogeny and deposit rock-forming minerals, and metal deposits, leaving only methane and hydrogen to effuse into the atmosphere; that
6. Nonmetal hydrides escaping from the interior of the primordial earth created a reducing atmosphere that was changed over to oxygen-rich by the loss of hydrogen to space; and that
7. The discovery that hydrogen nuclei under pressure penetrate atomic shells of metals, transmuting the metals to intermetals, densifying them, and fluidizing them, creates an entirely new geological picture of the earth’s interior, of endogeny, and of the mode by which the crust was created.

ISIS reports on transmutation

Fleishmann and Pons packed deuterium into a palladium lattice by electrolysis of heavy water. The palladium electrode absorbed a lot of deuterium and the nuclei fused together, generating energy far in excess (about 1 000 fold) of any ordinary electrochemical reactions.

The SPAWAR researchers deposited palladium and deuterium together onto an electrode and speeded up the fusion process with an external electric field (parallel to the electrode surface).

The Fleishman-Pons reactor is a simple electrolytic cell [] In the electrolytic cell, palladium (Pd) was the cathode and platinum the anode. The electrolyte solution contained lithium salts dissolved either in light or heavy water. When electric current is passed through the electrolyte, the water splits into hydrogen/deuterium at the cathode and oxygen at the anode. Pd is used because it absorbs hydrogen/deuterium avidly, thus bringing the atoms close together in its lattice (regularly spaced arrangement of atoms in the solid state).

Blank experiments gave a slightly negative rate of heat generation, on account of heat loss due to evaporation and so on. By contrast, the electrolysis of heavy water resulted in a positive excess rate of heat generation, this rate increasing markedly with current density I, at least as a function of I2, reaching 100 Watt cm-3 at about 1A cm-2.

Prolonged polarization of the palladium electrode in heavy water also resulted in bursts of high rates of heat generation, with the output energy exceeding the input by factors of 40 or more during these bursts.

The excess heat generated tended to go up exponentially with the current. There was a steady rate that appeared to increase slowly with time, with bursts of very high rates superimposed on the slowly increasing steady state.  The bursts occurred at unpredictable times and were of unpredictable duration. Following such bursts, the excess heat production returned to a baseline, which could be higher than that prior to the initiation of the burst.

The heat produced was so great that the electrolytic cells were frequently driven to boiling point, when the rate of heat production just became extremely large. It was not possible to make a quantitative estimate of the heat as the cells and instrumentation were unsuitable for making estimates under those conditions. Also, Fleishman and Pons adopted a policy of discontinuing the experiments (or at least reducing the current density) whenever the water started to boil. At such times, the palladium electrode also started to dissolve, which generated still more heat. They decided to avoid such conditions for fear of uncontrollable energy releases. These bursts of rapid increases of temperature were accompanied by marked increases in the rate of tritium production, suggesting that the nuclear reaction(s) occurring were different from those in the steady state.

[]The research team led by Stanislaw Spzak and Pamela Mosier-Boss at SPAWAR used a modified procedure in which palladium and deuterium were deposited together on a cathode consisting of a thin metal film [6]. In 1995, they first found indications of nuclear activity when the electrolytic cell emitted X-rays with a broad energy distribution, and occasionally with well identifiable peaks. Tritium was detected sporadically and often at low rates. Nevertheless, there were active periods that persisted for days, with tritium produced at approximately 6 x 103 atoms/s.

Ten years later in 2005, they obtained further evidence of nuclear activity: heat generation, hot spots, mini-explosions, radiation, and tritium production; more importantly, they discovered that by placing the electrolytic cell in an external electrostatic field, the reaction(s) could be much speeded up, and new elements produced, among them Al, Si, and Mg []

Under normal conditions when the cell operation is controlled by the cell current and temperature, the nuclear products consisted of X- and g-rays, tritium, and excess heat. However, when the operating cell was placed in an external electric field, the reaction products included the formation of “new elements” as well as the emission of charged particles such as p+ (protons) and a2+ (alpha particles consisting of two protons and two neutrons).

When H2O was substituted for D2O, neither excess heat nor helium-4 was generated.

Instead of a solid palladium cathode, Arata and Zhang used powdered palladium, or palladium black, which greatly increased the absorption surface area for deuterium. The palladium black was placed inside a container kept under a vacuum at constant temperature for 2-3 days before deuterium or hydrogen gas was injected at a constant low flow rate until the powdered palladium was fully saturated with the deuterium/hydrogen.

Using palladium black with extremely small particle size (15 to 40 nm), a high fusion rate was obtained, amounting to >1015 4He2 atoms in the closed inner space of the cathode. In contrast, no 4He2 (or excess heat) was ever generated when hydrogen was used instead of deuterium, or when bulk palladium was used.

Arata and Zhang also developed other materials that better absorbed H2/D2. In one experiment, Pd particles of 5 nm were embedded inside a matrix of ZrO2. ZrO2 on its own does not absorb H2 or D2, but ZrO2-Pd easily absorbed about 3 D atoms per host Pd atom. Arata and Zhang proposed that the D atoms absorbed are effectively solidified as an ultrahigh density deuterium lump inside each octahedral space within the unit cell of the Pd host lattice. These “pycnodeuterium” (heavy deuterium) are dispersed to form a metallic deuterium lattice with body-centred cuboctahedron structure

[]The minimum requirement for transmutation is a metal hydride film or membrane loaded up with hydrogen or deuterium to a high level, and kept in constant flux. Electrode materials have ranged from carbon, nickel, to uranium. The metal hydride can be loaded by electrolysis of water or heavy water using a thin film of the metal as cathode; or else deuterium gas can be made to diffuse through the metal membrane by injecting the gas on one side and evacuating from the other side. But a wide variety of experimental conditions have been used to trigger or speed up the reactions, including surface plasma electrolysis, plasma discharge, laser initiation and external electric or magnetic fields.

The most commonly reported elements are calcium, copper, zinc and iron. They were found in more than 20 different experiments. Forty percent of the least frequently observed elements were rare earths from the lanthanide group: lutetium, terbium praseodymium, europium, samarium, gadolinium, dysprosium, holmium, neodymium and ytterbium.

Yasuhiro Iwamura and colleagues at Mitsubishi’s Advanced Technology Research Center and colleagues have taken another approach to nuclear transmutation by concentrating on the direct transmutation of one element into another.

They used D2 gas permeation through a sandwich of thin alternating layers of palladium (Pd) and CaO sitting on a bottom layer of bulk Pd. Permeation of deuterium is forced through the layers by exposing the top of the sandwich with a thin Pd film to D2 gas while the bottom is maintained under vacuum. On the D2 gas side, dissociative absorption causes the D2 molecules to separate into D atoms, which diffuse though the sandwich towards the vacuum side, where they emerge from the Pd metal, combine and are released as D2 gas. The element to be transmuted is deposited on the top Pd film  of the Pd/CaO sandwich by electrolytic loading from a salt solution. Cesium (Cs), barium (Ba) and strontium (Sr) have been transmuted in this way. The analysis of elements was done in situ, without removing or disturbing the sandwich, using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) directed at the topside of the sandwich.

The role of the CaO layer was revealed in an experiment in which Cs was transmuted to Pr. In all three samples with the normal Pd/CaO sandwich, Pr was found as the end product, but not in an experiment without a CaO layer; nor in two experiments in which the CaO layer was replaced by MgO. The CaO layer appeared to increase the deuterium density 10-fold compared to palladium alone. The layer also has a very negative free energy, so that the transition metal Pd serves as a source of interface electrons to screen the positive charges of the deuterons from one another, thereby facilitating fusion and transmutation. It is thought that fusion may have occurred between deuterons to form helium, 4He2, which then further fuses with the heavier nuclei to give the end product.