Posted on 10/21/2012 5:33:40 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Cold fusion, otherwise called Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR), is, theoretically, the fusing together (rather than a chemical reaction) of elements at “normal” temperatures such that they release more energy than is required to fuse them.
This is an idea that is incredibly appealing because if it could be achieved it would provide mankind with, again in theory, incredibly cheap energy. In practice, there could be drawbacks such as pollution and radiation but until cold fusion is actually demonstrated and developed, no one knows.
Hot fusion, on the other hand, is the process by which elements would be fused together at temperatures and pressures only found naturally in stars.
While hot fusion, yet again theoretically, would create more energy than it would to induce fusion the conditions required are so extreme that rather than a simple test tube it requires machines the size of houses and enormous supporting facilities that bring the whole project up to factory scale (see the National Ignition Facility). Hot fusion is also guaranteed to have radioactive waste products.
Unfortunately it turned out that the Fleischmann and Pons experiment was not reliably reproducible. In the academic fracas that followed, both men’s reputations were ruined and the field was quickly relegated to the domain of “fringe” science along with perpetual motion, telekinesis, and anti-gravity.
While mainstream science was apparently quite happy with this situation and went about spending billions of dollars on “hot” fusion (there are many who claim that cold fusion was systematically marginalized and deprecated by establishment scientists), a few “rogue” researchers continued with cold fusion research and, over the last few years, evidence has piled up that cold fusion may, in fact, be real.
I wrote “may … be real” because until recently the evidence looked promising but hardly conclusive.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Geeezzzeee, I guess so. Right now they are trying to develop a computer based on it. It will be faster than the speed of light because of the nature of the “entwined subatomic particles.” It would be binary, like our computers today, but,it would have no space limitations as is the case in ordinary physics.
The Concorde was not an improvement in technology ~ any plane taking off at Dulles that I can hear from my basement is a problem!
P&F still got millions of dollars in the 1990's to do their cold fusion research in Europe and they still came up with nothing.
The author is a blogger. Obviously, Forbes doesn't check his work in any way.
I take it the space shuttle was no improvement either? The world has lost that as well.
That was Kevmo. He tried unsuccessfully to get me banned, then he tried to get the FR moderators to declare cold fusion a religion so he could keep me from commenting on his cold fusion threads, once again unsuccessfully.
If anyone wants to know the latest about Rossi the con artist, they should read this thread:
(E-cats) "NyTeknik Reports on Halted Swedish Investment in Hydrofusion Following Tests...
Still, there were billions spent on hot fusion and where is it?
Robotics have supplanted whatever the Shuttle could do. For quite some time we will do our planetary searches with machines. Unless, of course, someone comes up with workable cold fusion systems.
What do you mean by hot fusion?
I heard Ford made fusion a while back.
Does Forbes actually fact check its "science" articles?
Neither hot fusion nor cold fusion are "guaranteed" to have radioactive waste products. The apparent best pathway for both right now -- if we stipulate that we believe in cold fusion for the sake of discussion -- is neutronic, so both produce radioactive decay products, and for both the decay products are very short lived compared to fission.
That’s not what is happening at all. We are hitching rides on Russian spacecraft.
Like anti-gravity boots, cold fusion will revolutionize the world, just needs a few more tweeks and press releases to put the oil producers out of business. (see e-cat.com)
Sounds like they are basing it on the one real-world fusion reaction we see every day that is 93 million miles away. Plenty of X-rays come out of that reaction. Fusion in the core of that reaction does produce gamma rays, but those frequencies get slowed down before they reach the surface.
Aneutronic fusion is the Holy Grail of Green Weenies. I doubt very much they’re talking about gamma rays; almost all interactions produce photons, in particular both hot and cold fusion. They die off exponentially and don’t generally produce long lived products.
The space shuttle was not an improvement.
It was developed to service the space station, which was developed to give the shuttles something to do.
It is perfectly apparent, at least to me, that we aren’t going to do much of anything in space until we come up with a form of propulsion that isn’t rocket-based.
If we could control the gravitational force with 1% of the effectiveness with which we control the electromagnetic force, we’d be on our way. Anywhere.
Green Weenies abhor the very idea of any form of cheap, non-polluting energy.
It would allow the whole human race to greatly exceed the present American standard of living.
What a nightmare.
I forget which prominent greenie remarked something to the effect that giving the human race unlimited energy would be like giving a toddler a machine gun.
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