From elewars#* at *#alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca  Wed Feb  1 11:46:28 1995
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Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 11:28:30 -0500
From: "E. Lewars" <elewars[ AT ]alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>
Message-Id: <199502011628.LAA19850 -A_T- alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>
To: chemistry&$at$&ccl.net
Subject: FISSION IN A FLASK


There was a question on the Net today or yesterday about this.  In his book
"Cold Fusion: the Scientific Fiasco of the Century", Huizinga refers to an
off-the record remark by one of the protagonists that palladium in an 
electrochemical cell may be undergoing fission.  The view among physicists
is probably that this kind of thing is even less likely than 
(electro)chemically induced fusion.
Actually, *some* nuclear processes are not quite independent of chemical
influences: electron capture radioactive decay, a la one of the isotopes
of potassium, is clearly somewhat affected by the proximity of electrons,
and thus by the chemical state of the atom.
====
E. Lewars
===