We compare the thermodynamics and catalysis of two important exothermic chemical reactions, the homogeneously catalyzed chain reaction of H2 oxidation and the heterogeneously catalyzed ammonia synthesis, with those of an important exothermic physical reaction, namely the proton or neutron synthesis from elementary particles, i.e. quarks or relativistic neutrinos, a process known as hadronization. We show that, surprisingly, hadronization has several similarities both with homogeneous autocatalytic chain reactions, as well as with heterogeneously catalyzed ammonia synthesis. In NH3 synthesis, the presence of electrical charge, namely alkali promoters or protons or electrons on transition metals, enhances the formation of catalytically active intermediate NH species, while in hadronization, free electrons or positrons lower the activation energy and facilitate the formation of catalytically active bosonic e±-neutrino intermediates. These entities liberate highly active neutrinos creating, via their relativistic mass increase, a strong local gravitational field with all the mass-producing properties of the Higgs field. The main analogies and differences between the electric field effects in chemical catalysis and the electric and gravitational field effects in hadronization catalysis are identified and briefly discussed.
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In a recent work we have shown that the mass of W± bosons can be computed from first principles by modeling these bosons as relativistic rotational bound states consisting of e±–νe pairs, and by employing the de Broglie wavelength equation together with Newton’s universal gravitational law but with gravitational instead of rest masses (Vayenas et al., 2016). Here, we present similar calculations for the Zo boson which we model as a bound state of e+–νe–e− with an electron antineutrino at the center of the rotating ring. This appears consistent with the fact that Zo bosons are known to decay primarily to e+–e− pairs. The above models contain no adjustable parameters. The computed Zo boson mass (91.72 GeV/c2), as well as the ratio of the masses of Zo and W± bosons, differ by less than 0.6% and 0.9% respectively from the experimental values.
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Electrochemical promotion of the hydrogenation of CO2 on Ru deposited on a BZY proton conductor, Journal of Catalysis (2015). Comparative study of the electrochemical promotion of CO2 hydrogenation on Ru using Na+, K+, H+ and O2− conducting solid electrolytes, Surface Science (2015). Comparative Study of the Electrochemical Promotion of CO2 Hydrogenation over Ru-Supported Catalysts using Electronegative and Electropositive Promoters, CHEMELECTROCHEM (2014). Ionically conducting ceramics as active catalyst supports, Chemical Reviews, (2013). Promotion, Electrochemical Promotion and Metal-Support Interactions: Their Common Features, Catalysis Letters (2013).
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We are delighted to announce that Professor Costas G. Vayenas has received a honorary doctorate from the Aristotele University of Thessaloniki (ΑΠΘ) on November 23, 2015. Τhis was the first honorary doctorate given by the Department of Chemical Engineering of the ΑΠΘ since its foundation.
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