Experts Say New Desktop Fusion Claims Seem More Credible

New York Times ^ | March 3, 2004 | KENNETH CHANG

[Physicist]

This would be hot fusion.

[PatrickHenry]

Iceberg, Goldberg ...

[Technogeeb]

Interesting. Has anyone else heard of this?

Yes; it is just sonoluminance, and it isn't fusion (unless you do something to lower the coulomb repulsion and catylize the reaction like injecting muons; otherwise it misses the required temperature / compression needed for fusion).

[mikegi]

I don't think anyone knows what's really going on in sonoluminescence. Everyone seems to attribute it to their favorite pet theory: ZPF people claim its a Casimir-like effect, etc. Anyway, here's a link to an experiment done at LLNL:

http://www-phys.llnl.gov/N_Div/sonolum/sonolum_paper.html

If I were to bet on a technology that will have a large influence on our future, I'd place it on THz pulses:

http://utol.ecen.ceat.okstate.edu/THz%20Interactive%20tour/impulse.htm

[azhenfud]

That's a BLENDER. Well, I guess tou could call it a fusion chamber....

[JerseyHighlander]

It's actually an age old communication tool used by shrimp...

exhibit A) http://www.sciencenews.org/scripts/printthis.asp?clip=%2Farticles%2F20011006%2Fclip%5Ffob3%2Easp

[RightWhale]

The science of acoustics is a valid branch of physics. It was amazing to me that one of my physics profs was studying acoustics in a candle flame in the 60s. One can actually do cutting edge physics, even lab physics on beer money.

[glasseye]

think 'coffie grinder'......

[azhenfud]

Remember the commercial with the "FUSED" chicken? That's cold fusion....

[Ichneumon]

It was amazing to me that one of my physics profs was studying acoustics in a candle flame in the 60s.

A decade or two ago some company actually made speakers for home stereos which produced sound by manipulating flames, although I don't remember the company or product name.

I couldn't find it Googling, but I did turn up this related project, which includes two different video clips of flame being used to reproduce audio: Voice of Fire project.

[RightWhale]

I'm not into the acoustics of candle flames, which is why I see these things as kind of amazing. Acoustics of the Saturn V main motors is [are?] more interesting.

[theFIRMbss]

>Unless there is a possibility of less than zero rating

Oh, be fair! It did co-star the always cuddly Rachel Weisz. Va-voom...

[edwin hubble]

Well.. What do we know for sure?
Acoustic Sonoluminescence has been studied and reported for decades.

http://www.physik.tu-darmstadt.de/~hofu/paper/boosting/main.html

What is interesting is the wavelength of light produced.
It is not emission spectrum light.
It is the wavelength (color) associated with a surface
temperature of more than 100,000 degrees.

The cavity (bubble) is created by the ultrasonic vibrations.

The bubble has a short life. It comes into existence in the low pressure component of the ultrasonic pressure wave. While in existence the bubble-cavity is a vacuum (low pressure) that has a small amount of water vapor in it.

The tiny bubbles (a brief nod here to Don Ho) then collapse quickly. There is almost no vapor pressure inside the bubble to keep from disappearing.

But think of the pressure as the bubble collapses to a diameter of zero. That's the key. Whatever vapor is inside the (vacuum) bubble cavity it is squeezed in an almost perfect isotropic (equally from all sides) collapse.

"The pressures are as high as 200Mbar (1Mbar = 1011 Pa) in the core of the imploding bubble. This pressure is equal to 1.974*108Pa or 19,743,336 atmospheres. The only state of matter which can exist under these conditions is plasma."

The emitted light is broad-spectrum. "Measurements of the spectrum of sonoluminescence (SL) indicate that it extends from above 700 nm to below 190 nm." ...corresponding to black-body emissions of more than 100,000K.
http://www.auditory.org/asamtgs/asa92nwo/5aPAa/5aPAa5.html

Note the spectrum goes "below 190nm" (UV). Scientists don't even know whether the bubbles emit X rays, a sign of very high temperatures. Water absorbs X rays, making it futile to try to detect them from outside the flask.

Conventional physics tries to explain SL as the adiabatic compression of the bubble which leads to very high interior temperatures. The issue is still hotly debated and possible explanations include shocks, plasmas, ionisation and photo-recombination, Bremsstrahlung radiation, and even fusion.
http://www.blazelabs.com/f-p-sono.asp

It remains difficult to explain the phenomena of sonoluminescence.

[ml/nj]

Has anyone else heard of this?

I just got notification of it from my Alumni email.

There may be additional information in the Press Release from RPI. I've always thought there was something to the Fleishman-Pons work, and I'm proud to see that my alma mater is helping to advance it.

ML/NJ (RPI '68)

[American_Centurion]

Grrrrrrrr.

Movie rating: phhhhhht!!

Rachel's rating: SCHWWIINNGGG!!!

Can I say that?

[hershey]

A little more tinkering with cold fusion and it's bye bye Middle East oil!

[Paul C. Jesup]

Using ultrasonic vibrations to shake a jar of liquid solvent the size of a large drink cup, the scientists say, they squeezed tiny gas bubbles in the liquid so quickly and violently that temperatures reached millions of degrees and some of the hydrogen atoms in the solvent molecules fused, producing a flash of light and energy.

Wasn't this is the plot for the movie Chain Reaction.

[Cold Heat]

Has anyone else heard of this?

No, but it is interesting?????

[js1138]

http://www.ionovac.com/

[js1138]