[aquila48]

The strong nuclear force is a binding force. The force that one has to overcome to get hot fusion is the coulomb (electromagnetic) force from the protons in the nucleus not the strong nuclear force.

According to Widom-Larsen it isn’t a proton that gets fused into the nucleus of the nickel atom, but a neutron, thus it doesn’t face any repelling force (since it’s neutral). After it is absorbed into the nickel nucleus it undergoes beta decay thus transmuting the nickel into a copper isotope, plus it emits radiation (probably gamma, plus kinetic energy) equivalent to the nuclear binding energy for nickel.

The neutron that gets absorbed supposedly comes by combining the hydrogen nucleus (ie a proton) and an electron, plus energy has to be supplied to make this happen.

Here’s an overview of widom-larson (applied to different material):

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/01/widom-larsen-theory-and-zawodny-at.html

The more I read the more I’m buying into this stuff... and probably I should be shorting oil futures, solar, wind, uranium...

[MrEdd]

If we take it that the current situation could collapse some world currencies (as well as a plethora of wars), which in turn combined with a radical restructuring of energy markets could collapse the commodities system all together...

Then maybe investing in small consortium owned nickel mines might be the most secure option.

If you bet on chaos, which you might not live through anyway.

[hc87]

Thanks. Very helpful explanation. Off to read the overview.