The leading opponents, such as Robert Park, are not experts in relevant fields such as nuclear energy, electrochemistry or calorimetry....
see below
https://mail.google.com/mail/?tab=wm#search/robert+park/13fe1f66f40b4670
With the palladium deuterium system there is good evidence that cold fusion is, in fact, fusion. It produces helium in the same ratio to the heat as plasma fusion does.
No one has looked for nuclear products in the nickel systems yet. (This is a very expensive and difficult experiment.)
There is no doubt that cold fusion is a nuclear effect. In addition to helium, it produces tritium, neutrons and x-rays. A chemical effect is ruled out because: there is no chemical fuel in the cell; no chemical changes are observed; and with many cells, a device weighing a few grams has produced as much energy as thousands of grams of the most potent chemical fuel. Researchers at Amoco concluded:
“The calorimetry conclusively shows excess energy was produced within the electrolytic cell over the period of the experiment. This amount, 50 kilojoules, is such that any chemical reaction would have had to been in near molar amounts to have produced the energy. Chemical analysis shows clearly that no such chemical reactions occurred. The tritium results show that some form of nuclear reactions occurred during the experiment. . . .”
http://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/Lautzenhiscoldfusion.pdf
I disagree with David Goodstein. Most researchers in this field have been mainstream academic scientists. Many of them have been distinguished leaders such as the late P. K. Iyengar, chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission, and Martin Fleischmann, Fellow of the Royal Society. The leading opponents, such as Robert Park, are not experts in relevant fields such as nuclear energy, electrochemistry or calorimetry.
Just like I knew what the outcome of the birther issue was going to be back in 2008 (”going nowhere”) - I’m just as confident that the day before I die, I’ll be reading that the breakthrough is just around the corner, maybe tomorrow (with the above issue) ... :-) ...
It’ll be the same for my kids and grandkids.
On the other hand, you’re going to die sometime in the future (just like I am) - except you’ll be holding a bag of lost causes.
My take big pic take aways so far from the Winter 2013 MIT course are that:
CF is real. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that D+D --> 4He happens in metal crystals.
The theoretical physics are still lagging, but making significant, but slow progress.
Some peeps are working on process development to bring useful systems to market.
Bottom line: Fleischmann and Pons should get a Nobel Prize.