On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 09:00:57 -0700, (Harry
Andreas) wrote in Message-Id:
:

In article ,
(John S. Shinal) wrote:

(Eric Moore) wrote:

This article goes into more detail on the topic:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994049

Hmm. Not as crackpot as I first assumed.

I have to wonder how you keep this stuff from spontaneously
releasing the energy. There could easily be a cascade effect if a few
atoms release in a half-life style decay sequence.

It does spontaneously release it's energy. That's what half-life is all about.

It would appear from the article, that the isomer's decay rate can be
modulated by varying the x-ray excitation input.

But it releases gamma rays, not particles, so there is no direct
comparison with a fission-type chain reaction.

Have you any idea how the gamma energy might be directly converted to
electrical?



--

Irrational beliefs ultimately lead to irrational acts.
-- Larry Dighera,