Atomic Motor - Cold Fusion of Energy & Culture: Spotless Solar Month is a First Since 1913

Spotless Solar Month is a First Since 1913

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Sun Shows No Spots For One Month

Spotless Solar Image Courtesy of SOHO Obeservatory"

An old friend of mine pointed out an interesting story on Michael Asher's blog over at DailyTech. Solar sunspot activity data has been kept now for almost 400 years, and other than one month in 1913, the sun has never had a month like this past August where "not a single visible sunspot" was seen (see above photo). Highly unusual.

The following chart shows the historical data collected over the past two centuries.

This story continues here...

Does Beta and Alpha Decay Rate of Nuclides Vary With Earth Sun Distance? Maybe So !

Speaking of periodic fluctuations and things solar related (cold fusion scientists here's another miracle to ponder) an interesting paper popped up on the arXiv.org pre-print paper server (see pdf) last week by Jere H. Jenkins, et al of Indiana's Purdue University and Wabash College of an analysis of US Brookhaven National Lab and a German National Lab data ...and get this ..the beta and alpha decay rates of some nuclides may not only vary with solar activity, but also with the distance from earth to sun during earth's annual orbit about the sun. Figure 1 of their paper is quite amazing for the implied correlation of 6 x10^ -18 that this could have been from purely random data sets.

Shocking if confirmed, simply because these decay rates are typically treated as constants of nature. Given the importance of the possible implications if true (cold fusion scientists are not the only ones excited I imagine), theorists might also have a field day combing through other data sets and past conclusions. since this applies to both beta and alpha particles. Others will surely try to replicate this effort, particularly if the half lives of other nuclides show similar trends as their data and conclusions appear to imply.

Why is this type of work important a non-scientist may ask? This is getting into speculative territory, but better understanding of the theoretical basis for natural radioactive decay and improving upon those theories may allow us to someday amplify or even accelerate this process for the good. Imagine nuclear waste that could be "accelerated" to becoming harmless much quicker someday. Impossible? Afterall, humankind watched the flapping of bird wings for many centuries and wondered why and how until two smart brothers came along and showed us all how to apply their careful aerodynamics studies into teaching us all how to fly...

Who ever said modern atomic physics is boring is surely fast asleep. Brookhaven and Indiana scientists rock !