– This is a tough one to know how I feel about. On one hand, a real solution of the fusion conundrum, would change the world for the better in an incredible way. So, for that reason, I’d be very excited about this. Â
– But, on the other hand, cold fusion has been a huge disappointment ever since the initial Fleischmann & Pons debacle in 1989. Â
– Stories about cold fusion since then have reminded me of those Christian film makers who go off every year and make a film about how they’ve finally ‘found’ Noah’s original ark up on some mountain. But then some freak event happens and they lose its location or they lose their their film or something. Darn!
– Well, three separate labs now say they got ‘proof’ of cold fusion. Well, maybe they do and maybe they don’t. The next year, as others try to replicate their results, will tell the story.
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PORTLAND, Ore. — U.S. Navy researchers claimed to have experimentally confirmed cold fusion in a presentation at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting.
“We have compelling evidence that fusion reactions are occurring” at room temperature, said Pamela Mosier-Boss, a scientist with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (San Diego). The results are “the first scientific report of highly energetic neutrons from low-energy nuclear reactions,” she added.
Cold fusion was first reported in 1989 by researchers Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, then with the University of Utah, prompting a global effort to develop the technology. Normal fusion reactions, where hydrogen is fused into helium, occur at millions of degrees inside the Sun. If room temperature fusion reactions could be realized commercially, as Fleishchmann and Pons claimed to have achieved inside an electrolytic cell, it promised to produce abundant nuclear energy from deuterium–heavy hydrogen–extracted from seawater.
Other scientists were unable to duplicate the 1989 results, thereby discrediting the work.
The theoretical underpinnings of cold fusion have yet to be adequately explained. The hypothesis is that when electrolysis is performed on deuteron, molecules are fused into helium, releasing a high-energy neutron. While excess heat has been detected by researchers, no group had yet been able to detect the missing neutrons.
Now, the Naval researchers claim that the problem was instrumentation, which was not up to the task of detecting such small numbers of neutrons. To sense such small quantities, Mosier-Boss used a special plastic detector called CR-39. Using co-deposition with nickel and gold wire electrodes, which were inserted into a mixture of palladium chloride and deutrium, the detector was able to capture and track the high-energy neutrons.
More… ➡
– research thanks to Bruce S. (a way down in New Zealand)