Posted on 06/01/2008 12:18:07 AM PDT by spyone
Cold Fusion, the act of producing a nuclear reaction at room temperature, has long been relegated to science fiction after researchers were unable to recreate the experiment that first "discovered" the phenomenon. But a Japanese scientist was supposedly able to start a cold fusion reaction earlier this week, whichif the results are realcould revolutionize the way we gather energy.
Yoshiaki Arata, a highly respected physicist in Japan, demonstrated a low-energy nuclear reaction at Osaka University on Thursday. In front of a live audience, including reporters from six major newspapers and two TV studios, Arata and a co-professor Yue-Chang Zhang, produced excess heat and helium atoms from deuterium gas.
Arata used pressure to force deuterium gas into an evacuated cell that contained a palladium and zirconium oxide mix (ZrO2-Pd). Arata said that the mix caused the deuterium's nuclei to fuse, raising the temperature in the cell and keeping the center of the cell warm for 50 hours.
Arata's experiment would mark the first time anyone has witnessed cold fusion since 1989, when Martin Fleishmann and Stanely Pons supposedly observed excess heat during electrolysis of heavy water with palladium electrodes. When they and other researchers were unable to make it work again, cold fusion became synonymous with bad science.
But the method Arata showed was "highly reproducible," according to eye witnesses of the event. If nobody calls this demonstration out as a sham, Arata might have finally found the holy grail of cheap and abundant energynuclear power, without its destructive heat. [Physicsworld via Slashdot]
1:
And another source:
http://physicsworld.com/blog/2008/05/coldfusion_demonstration_a_suc_1.html
<”Arata used pressure to force deuterium gas into an evacuated cell...”>
How much energy was required to exert the pressure?
Did the resultant energy generated by the “cold fusion” process exceed that of the energy required to produce the pressure?
If not, why is this event being hailed as though it is some kind of breakthrough?
So, if this is the real deal:
1. Would it completely solve the energy crunch?
2. How long until practical applications come on line?
Is this the same guy that video taped aliens looking in his window?
And how!
Genius is where you find it. I’ve suspected that the next big wave of science was about due.
“In front of live audience, including reporters from six major newspapers and two TV studios” strongly suggests that this is a sham. If it were real, he would first show it to nuclear physicists, not the gullible press.
2.Forever.....they didn't do it.
I saw the same thing on Mr. Wizard years ago, ‘cept the outcome looked like a little volcano thingy.
Because if this is true, and that’s a big if, nuclear fussion at room temperatures has never been achieved/confirmed before. The normal pressures involved are extreme, as in nuclear fission bomb...
Where did the helium come from?
Big bingo on that one.
God knows, I’d love to see it but....
Total isolation fom exterior power, and whatever lights up a single incandescent 100 watt bulb. Until I see that, my money is on Uncle Fester of the Addams Family
I will agree with that!
Probably a natural gas well. That's where most terrestrial Helium comes from.
A Brazilian man has already invented light bulbs that require no electricity.
Film.
I don’t believe it.
In front of live audience, including reporters from six major newspapers and two TV studios
Yes, but can he do it in front of James Randi?
If the cold fusion process detailed here produces more energy than the process itself requires, then fine; this just might be something important.
But if the amount of energy this process needed to exert great pressure exceeds the amount of energy generated by the cold fusion process itself, then it is a bust.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.