EAS Mass Excess and Mass Defect

This page started as an explanation for the so called mass excess of a neutron over the sum the masses of its ponderable decay products, i.e., a proton and an electron. It is being modified to provide an EAS rationale for both mass excess and mass defect.

On atomic and nuclear scales we deduce mass electromagnetically. That is, if we want to know the masses of specific nuclei or of electrons, we subject them to known electrical and/or magnetic fields and by observing their trajectories or their changes in velocity we calculate or deduce their masses. We do not actually measure ponderable amounts of "mass."

Since neutrons are electrically neutral we "measure" the masses of differing isotopes of an atom, then deduce neutron masses based on the differences and energy input/output considerations.

If, on the other hand, a nucleus or ion is more visible than superposition theory would have it, then that ion will respond more readily to its electrodynamic environment than expected, and thus would appear to be less massive than expected. This would be a case of mass defect.

Lets talk about measuring the masses three different particles:

a: An electron
b: A proton
c. A deuterium nucleus

We inject each of these objects at a known low energy at one end of a linear accelerating cavity and let the electrical field impressed across the cavity do its work. Each object's exit speed will mainly be a function of its charge, its' "mass" and the voltage applied.

In the EAS model the electrical accelerating influence of an applied electrical field is brought about by collisions of negatrinos or positrinos with the test charge. In the acceleration cavity there will be a net flux of negatrinos traveling from the negative electrode to the positive electrode and likewise a net flux of positrinos traveling from positive to negative.

In this model protons and electrons are semi-opaque to the passage of positrinos and negatrinos, which are the neutrino-like force carrying particles. . . .

Electron acceleration
Elastically colliding negatrinos hit an electron twice as hard as do positrino absorptions so the net flux of negatrinos will accelerate the electron toward the positive electrode.

Proton acceleration
In similar fashion, elastic positrino collisions with a proton will pack twice the punch as those of the negatrinos that are absorbed, so the proton will be accelerated from positive to negative.

Deuterium nucleus acceleration
(Keep in mind that in the EAS model a neutron is a proton with an electron in close orbit.) As before, the net positrino flux will impel both protons toward the negative electrode and the net negatrino flux will be impelling the nuclear electron toward the positive electrode.

The "push-of-war" will, of course, be won by the two protons.

The following paragraphs will have to be reworked regarding how much shielding unlike charges provide for one another.

If we focus on just the neutron part of the deuterium nucleus (by "neutron" I mean the proton that happens to have the electron at the moment) the electron will be out of sight of the accelerator's net negatrino flux roughly half the time, because it's shielded by the proton. (It is assumed that the electron is of smaller radius than the proton, This "blockage" is equivalent to having the electron's electrical response to the external field reduced to near zero half the time. The electron will thus experience half the expected linear acceleration from the applied flux. This is like having a proton and a "half time" electron for acceleration purposes. If the electron is being acted on half the time by the impressed electrical field then it will accelerate half as much.

Again, people generally "infer" mass from the observed accelerations imparted to objects when we use known (electrical, magnetic, or gravitational) accelerating influences. If we get reduced accelerations for an object, and all else that we think we know remains unchanged, we interpret it as increased mass. (Our currently accepted paradigm says that charge is constant and that no shielding takes place. Superposition reigns.) In the case being discussed, the "nuclear electron" thus is observed to behave as though it were twice as massive as a free electron.

The author did not do his homework before writing the following paragraph. The mass of a deuteron is less than the combined masses of two protons and an electron, or of a proton plus a neutron. Mass-defect at work! See Philosophy paragraphs above for where this is going to go. [This cautionary note added 8 September 2005.]

The electron will provide some blockage of positrinos that would ordinarily collide with the protons, so the "collective" proton responses to the applied electrical field will be less than that expected based on the non-shielding aspect of the superposition theorem. (The protons themselves should fractionaly shield one another as well. The deuteron (two protons plus nuclear electron) will "measurably" seem more massive than expected. The amount of this "increase" will be a proportional to the ratio of the cross-sectional area of the electron to that of the protons. The trick will be to refine the hypothesis so as to make the total apparent increased mass, electron and protons, come out to be equivalent to 1.51 electron masses.

The electrical blockage (or electrical shielding) discussed here may be applied to more complex nuclei. The EAS model may provide an avenue for evaluating the peculiarities of nuclide mass relations.