Posted: May 03, 2010 7:53 pm
Is there strong support for the hypotheis that the sun, and many other stars, are not hot enough at their cores to cause the fusion of hydrogen on a long-term basis, and thus quantum tunneling of protons past the Coulomb barrier (the proton's electrostatic repelling charge) is the only palusible explanation.
In other words, tunneling causes sufficient (albeit statistically small) protons to appear within the 2.5 femtometer distance from the protons' centers and therefore permitting the attractive nuclear force to overcome the Coulomb Law repulsion and fuse the two protons, thus giving aid to the otherwise insufficent heat-induced fusion reactions.
Or is it just a supposition without evidence?
And if indeed quantum tunneling of protons is essential to the fusion reactions of some stars, is it also implicated in the very beginning of the universe, when protons and electrons were the only particles bouncing around?
In other words, tunneling causes sufficient (albeit statistically small) protons to appear within the 2.5 femtometer distance from the protons' centers and therefore permitting the attractive nuclear force to overcome the Coulomb Law repulsion and fuse the two protons, thus giving aid to the otherwise insufficent heat-induced fusion reactions.
Or is it just a supposition without evidence?
And if indeed quantum tunneling of protons is essential to the fusion reactions of some stars, is it also implicated in the very beginning of the universe, when protons and electrons were the only particles bouncing around?