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| Science & Technology |
| Cold-fusion demonstration 'a success' |
| 2008-06-01 |
| On 23 March 1989 Martin Fleischmann of the University of Southampton, UK, and Stanley Pons of the University of Utah, US, announced that they had observed controlled nuclear fusion in a glass jar at room temperature, and — for around a month — the world was under the impression that the world's energy woes had been remedied. But, even as other groups claimed to repeat the pair's results, sceptical reports began trickle in. An editorial in Nature predicted cold fusion to be unfounded. And a US Department of Energy report judged that the experiments did "not provide convincing evidence that useful sources of energy will result from cold fusion." This hasn't prevented a handful of scientists persevering with cold-fusion research. They stand on the sidelines, diligently getting on with their experiments and, every so often, they wave their arms frantically when they think have made some progress. Nobody notices, though. Why? These days the mainstream science media wouldn't touch cold-fusion experiments with a barge pole. They have learnt their lesson from 1989, and now treat "cold fusion" as a byword for bad science. Most scientists agree, and some even go so far as to brand cold fusion a "pathological science" — science that is plagued by falsehood but practiced nonetheless. There is a reasonable chance that the naysayers are (to some extent) right and that cold fusion experiments in their current form will not amount to anything. But it's too easy to be drawn in by the crowd and overlook a genuine breakthrough, which is why I'd like to let you know that one of the handful of diligent cold-fusion practitioners has started waving his arms again. His name is Yoshiaki Arata, a retired (now emeritus) physics professor at Osaka University, Japan. Yesterday, Arata performed a demonstration at Osaka of one his cold-fusion experiments. Although I couldn't attend the demonstration (it was in Japanese, anyway), I know that it was based on reports published here and here. Essentially Arata, together with his co-researcher Yue-Chang Zhang, uses pressure to force deuterium (D) gas into an evacuated cell containing a sample of palladium dispersed in zirconium oxide (ZrO2–Pd). He claims the deuterium is absorbed by the sample in large amounts — producing what he calls dense or "pynco" deuterium — so that the deuterium nuclei become close enough together to fuse. So, did this method work yesterday? Here's an email I received from Akito Takahashi, a colleague of Arata's, this morning: "Arata's demonstration...was successfully done. There came about 60 people from universities and companies in Japan and few foreign people. Six major newspapers and two TV [stations] (Asahi, Nikkei, Mainichi, NHK, et al.) were there...Demonstrated live data looked just similar to the data they reported in [the] papers...This showed the method highly reproducible. Arata's lecture and Q&A were also attractive and active." I also received a detailed account from Jed Rothwell, who is editor of the US site LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reactions) and who has long thought that cold-fusion research shows promise. He said that, after Arata had started the injection of gas, the temperature rose to about 70 °C, which according to Arata was due to both chemical and nuclear reactions. When the gas was shut off, the temperature in the centre of the cell remained significantly warmer than the cell wall for 50 hours. This, according to Arata, was due solely to nuclear fusion. Rothwell also pointed out that Arata performed three other control experiments: hydrogen with the ZrO2–Pd sample (no lasting heat); deuterium with no ZrO2–Pd sample (no heating at all); and hydrogen with no ZrO2–Pd sample (again, no heating). Nevertheless, Rothwell added that Arata neglected to mention certain details, such as the method of calibration. "His lecture was very difficult to follow, even for native speakers, so I may have overlooked something," he wrote. It will be interesting to see what other scientists think of Arata's demonstration. Last week I got in touch with Augustin McEvoy, a retired condensed-matter physicist who has studied Arata's previous cold-fusion experiments in detail. He said that he has found "no conclusive evidence of excess heat" before, though he would like to know how this demonstration turned out. I will update you if and when I get any more information about the demonstration (apparently there might be some videos circulating soon). For now, though, you can form your own opinions about the reliability of cold fusion. Doesn't matter until it is reproduced. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #15 Seems to me that some chemical reactions involving Zr go up to about 7000 degrees Fahrenheit. Very vigorous. I wouldn't be surprised if a very slow reaction involving that Zr is going on here. |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-06-01 23:35 |
| #14 Thanks TW, my attempt floundered and waz pretty Lame....so much appreciated! |
| Posted by: RD 2008-06-01 22:41 |
| #13 *giggle* |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-06-01 22:28 |
| #12 engineer humor/pedantic asshole No not at all! Thank You Sir. I meant columns! Thanks Again. Real Investigators doing real science don't have a difficult time explaining their projects through that be.. *Hollow Pre/Post Stressed 9/sack Concrete Columns to be exact-ing! Way easier to hear a lecture at the end of a column. ~:| [/Tesla/Oracle Laws 101] |
| Posted by: RD 2008-06-01 22:17 |
| #11 Brought to you by TokaMate, Your Personal Thermofusion Device. Take it anywhere: boat, cabin, camper... Hey Youse! Yes You! Happy Campers! Don't be Shy or intimidated by our ugly sales personal, You probably caint even catch what they got even..... If you buy 10+ Personal Thermofusion Devices TODAY we'll send you ABSOLUTELY FREE, one Boot, Belt and Pocket Clip with each Thermofusion Device you purchase! >:) |
| Posted by: RD 2008-06-01 21:51 |
| #10 No, but unfortunately we're far from PEAK GULLIBILITY. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-06-01 21:30 |
| #9 ION RENSE > APOCALYPSE IN OUR OCEANS. Massive Sea/Ocean Die-Off + 150 [and counting?] ocean "Dead Zones"; + CLIMATE CHANGE WILL PRODUCE MILLIONS OF ENVIROFUGEES/ENVIROGEES [Environmental Refugees]. ALso, REDDIT > VARIOUS > IS PEAK WATER THE NEW PEAK OIL? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-06-01 21:14 |
| #8 " "cold fusion" as a byword for bad science" You know, kinda like "global warmening". |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-06-01 20:54 |
| #7 or columns even? /engineer humor/pedantic asshole |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-06-01 20:14 |
| #6 IMO; Real Investigators doing real science don''t have a difficult time explaining their projects to piers in the field. |
| Posted by: RD 2008-06-01 19:51 |
| #5 but don't keep it in your pocket for more than 15 minutes? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-06-01 19:35 |
| #4 Brought to you by TokaMate, Your Personal Thermofusion Device. Take it anywhere: boat, cabin, camper... |
| Posted by: eLarson 2008-06-01 19:30 |
| #3 Whether reproduceable or not, cold fusion as the energy panacea may have missed it's window of opportunity. Recent articles on focus fusion using plasma make it seem like the "next big thing". Inexpensive, extremely efficient due to the lack of steam turbines and generators, small facility footprint and the fact it'd going into a production test cycle fairly soon may mean it's the way to go. Of course, I'm not sure I'd trust some of the local power engineers with a plasma generator..... |
| Posted by: Gomez Hupaigum4684 2008-06-01 16:20 |
| #2 Great article for the "Geez, Not This Shit Again" picture! |
| Posted by: Raj 2008-06-01 13:29 |
| #1 1/ Pressurisation will increase the heat. 2/ Repeat with Hydrogen/Helium instead of D2 to see if it really is fusion, rather than chemical or pressure that causes heat. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2008-06-01 12:12 |