Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Cold fusion ‘breakthrough’ heralds clean nuclear power
The Sunday Times (UK) ^ | March 03, 2002 | Jonathan Leake, Science Editor

Posted on 03/02/2002 4:54:40 PM PST by aculeus

NUCLEAR scientists will this week announce they may have achieved a controlled form of cold fusion, a technology that potentially offers humanity a limitless source of clean energy.

The researchers are to publish evidence suggesting they have successfully fused the nuclei of hydrogen atoms, so recreating the processes that take place within the sun.

Until now the only way to achieve fusion has been through nuclear weapons or in vast experimental machines that cost billions of pounds. Both depend on generating extremely high temperatures.

However, the latest research, by scientists at the American government’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Michigan, was done on a laboratory bench using relatively simple and cheap equipment at room temperature.

The study echoes the work of Professor Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons who, in 1989, announced they had achieved cold fusion at Southampton University but were ridiculed when no one could repeat their work.

Fleischmann and Pons made what many now see as a fatal mistake when they released their results at a press conference rather than having them scrutinised by other scientists before publication in an academic journal.

It is understood that Rusi Taleyarkhan from Oak Ridge, Fred Becchetti from the University of Michigan and their collaborator, Robert Nigmatulin, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, have repeated their work and subjected it to extensive peer review.

If confirmed, the discovery could rank among the most important since the dawn of the nuclear age. The scientists are, however, extremely cautious at this stage, saying only that they have detected all the signs of fusion rather than categorically confirming it.

Their technique uses pressure waves to generate tiny bubbles in a solution of acetone that has been infused with deuterium, a “heavy” form of hydrogen extracted from sea water.

At the heart of most hydrogen atoms is a nucleus comprising a single proton. Deuterium atoms, however, have an additional particle, a neutron. This makes them roughly twice as heavy and slightly unstable.

Physicists have long known that smashing two deuterium atoms together can fuse them into tritium, a third form of hydrogen with a proton and two neutrons. This fusion releases vast amounts of energy. This was the principle used to create the hydrogen bomb in 1945, but ever since then scientists have been struggling to find a way to control the process.

In the latest technique, the sound waves create bubbles that expand with explosive force. As the wave passes, the bubbles implode, generating extremely high temperatures. This process is known as sono-luminescence after the flashes of light emitted.

Until recently scientists could generate only temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees, far short of the sun’s 10m Celsius. This appears to have been solved by “hitting” the bubbles with another sound wave that compresses them so rapidly that temperatures soar and the deuterium fuses.

An insider said the researchers had detected “promising signs of fusion” including the creation of tritium and, crucially, the emission of neutrons. The researchers believe the neutrons have energy levels consistent with those that would be emitted by deuterium fusion.

This would enable them to escape the fate of Fleischmann and Pons, whose readings of neutrons enabled them to claim they had achieved fusion. It later emerged that these neutrons could have been the results of contamination.

Neil Turok, professor of theoretical physics at Cambridge University, said the results, if confirmed, were extremely exciting: “Cold fusion has a bad history but these laboratories are among the best in the world and they will have taken every precaution to get it right.”

The research has major implications for other fusion projects. Britain already hosts the Jet project at Culham in Oxford, where a machine has been built to research sustainable nuclear fusion reactions.

This weekend it emerged that Culham had scrapped its own research into sono-luminescence and other low-tech forms of fusion after a report from Thornton Greenland, a former senior scientist, suggesting it was unlikely ever to work.

Greenland said: “I thought there was too little evidence to show it would work, but this suggests I was wrong.”

Recently, Lord Sainsbury, the science minister, committed Britain to joining an international project to build a £2 billion fusion machine called Iter, Latin for “the Way”.

Even this, however, will be able to sustain fusion reactions for only 16 minutes. A proper fusion reactor capable of producing power is thought to be 30-50 years away.

Fleischmann, who now lives near Salisbury, still believes his results were correct although he regrets allowing colleagues to press him into publicising them before he was ready.

He said: “I hope they have achieved it. If they have, I hope people are ready for it this time.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energylist; sonoluminescence; techindex
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 181-200201-220221-240241-251 last
To: PatrickHenry
I am in my basement la-BOR-a-tory (Brittish pronounciation) working on the very same thing. I'll keep you advised.

And I'll finish up my cold fusion reactor, shortly after I perfect my "Infinite Improbability Drive," which, interestingly enough, seems to be required to get the cold fusion reactor to work...

Mark

241 posted on 03/17/2002 5:53:27 PM PST by MarkL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Kevin Curry
Yes. The high priests of science crucified them for not strictly obeying the rules. Science played second fiddle to the rules.  The pharisees of science worship a cruel and jealous god, indeed.

You'll find that repeatability and predictability
are characteristics that distinguish science from
the I'll-believe-anything-you-tell-me-if-you-
say-Jesus-said-it standard of proof that passes
for you and your ilk, KC.

242 posted on 03/17/2002 6:43:25 PM PST by gcruse
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 237 | View Replies]

To: MarkL
"Infinite Improbability Drive,"

So where did you find enough unobtanium required to fuel it? :)

243 posted on 03/17/2002 6:52:34 PM PST by RadioAstronomer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 241 | View Replies]

To: MarkL; radioastronomer
... after I perfect my "Infinite Improbability Drive" ...

I have one of those things lying around my la-BOR-a-tory, somewhere. Or I did have. Or will have. (Durned time machine, always mixing me up!)

244 posted on 03/18/2002 6:22:28 AM PST by PatrickHenry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 241 | View Replies]

To: aculeus
Hmmm-type placemarker
245 posted on 03/18/2002 6:32:38 AM PST by AndrewC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: right_to_defend
Thanks for the link to the Sonoluminescence article. FYI: As I read the article, it says 100,000 Kelvin, or ten to the fifth Kelvin, or 10^5 Kelvin, and NOT 105 Kelvin. Also, similar correction comment for 10^7 bar.
246 posted on 03/18/2002 7:25:15 AM PST by Graewoulf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 172 | View Replies]

To: patriciaruth;DrTEJ;Physicist;monocle;Diogenesis;El Gato;RadioAstronomer;longshadow
I have more information about the Z Machine that you might be interested in, quoting from a recent email to me:

Gerry Yonas passed along your inquiry re: Z. We are continuing to make progress. Most recently, we completed the project to move the Beamlet laser from LLNL (Beamlet was the prototype laser for the national ignition facility). We were successful in reconstructing the laser next to Z and then synchronizing it within 3 ns to the peak radiation output from Z. We then were able, for the first time, to image imploding capsules with a backlighter. We have done some nice symmetry measurements of imploding capsules. We also have been working to refurbish the facility. This year, Congress supplied $10M (the first installment in what we hope to be a $60M total) to begin the refurbishment. When completed, we should have 26 MA into a z pinch (18 MA today) and 350 TW of x-ray power with 2.7 MJ of x-ray energy (200 TW and 1.8 MJ today). This will provide a significant improvement in precision, capacity and capability.

Finally, we are also using the Z facility to generate very high magnetic fields for materials studies. We have achieved 2 Mbar isentropic compression in Al and have launched flyer plates to greater than 26 km/s velocities. All in all a very versatile and useful machine.

Hope this answers your questions. We have a Web site http://www.sandia.gov/pulspowr/PPT.html that is a bit out of date but over the next few months we hope to bring it up to snuff.

Regards,
Jeff Quintenz

247 posted on 04/01/2002 3:54:31 PM PST by Gordian Blade
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 233 | View Replies]

To: Gordian Blade
Thanks for the ping!
248 posted on 04/01/2002 6:52:26 PM PST by patriciaruth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 247 | View Replies]

To: Gordian Blade
The Z machine. Haven't heard that name in a while. Sounds like good things are going on there.
249 posted on 04/01/2002 6:59:55 PM PST by Billy_bob_bob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 247 | View Replies]

To: Gordian Blade
Cool! Thanks for the post!
250 posted on 04/02/2002 1:22:17 AM PST by RadioAstronomer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 247 | View Replies]

To: aculeus
No fusion is cold. Cold fusion is a misnomer for it is a hot fusion created in ambient temperature vessels.
251 posted on 04/02/2002 1:29:57 AM PST by lavaroise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 181-200201-220221-240241-251 last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson