Nuclear fusion is a type of nuclear reaction in which to atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, releasing energy. For a fusion reaction to take place, the nuclei, which are positively charged, must have enough kinetic energy to overcome their electrostatic force of repulsion. This can occur either when one nucleus is accelerated to high energies by an accelerating device or when the energies of both nuclei are raised by the application of very high temperatures. The later method, referred to as thermonuclear fusion, is the source of Sun’s energy, if a proton is accelerated and collides with another proton, these nuclei can fuse, forming a deuterium nucleus (one proton and one neutron), a positron, a neutrino, and energy. Such a reaction is not self sustaining, because the released energy is not readily imparted to other nuclei. Thermonuclear fusion of deuterium and tritium (one proton and two neutrons) will produce a helium nucleus and an energetic neutron that can help sustain further fusion. This is one bases of the Hydrogen Bomb, which employs a brief effort is now under way to harness thermonuclear fusion as a source of power.
Thermonuclear fusion depends on high energies, and the possibility of low-energy, low-temperature nuclear fusion has generally been discounted. Early in 1989, however, two electrochemists started the scientific world and aroused great public interest when they declared that they had achieved room temperature fusion in a simple laboratory experiment. The scientist, Stanley Pons of the University of Utah and Martin fleischmann of the University of Southampton, England, described their experiment as involving an electrochemical cell in which palladium and platinum electrodes were immersed in heavy water. They claimed that the cell produced more heat than could be accounted for by a chemical reaction alone and that they had observed certain typical fusion by product in the course of the process. According to their theory, deuterium was absorbed by the palladium electrode and fused there, releasing the extra heat.
Various laboratories around the world tried to duplicate the process, with conflicting but generally negative results. Scientists nevertheless continued to explore this possibility of “cold fusion.”
Thermonuclear fusion depends on high energies, and the possibility of low-energy, low-temperature nuclear fusion has generally been discounted. Early in 1989, however, two electrochemists started the scientific world and aroused great public interest when they declared that they had achieved room temperature fusion in a simple laboratory experiment. The scientist, Stanley Pons of the University of Utah and Martin fleischmann of the University of Southampton, England, described their experiment as involving an electrochemical cell in which palladium and platinum electrodes were immersed in heavy water. They claimed that the cell produced more heat than could be accounted for by a chemical reaction alone and that they had observed certain typical fusion by product in the course of the process. According to their theory, deuterium was absorbed by the palladium electrode and fused there, releasing the extra heat.
Various laboratories around the world tried to duplicate the process, with conflicting but generally negative results. Scientists nevertheless continued to explore this possibility of “cold fusion.”
Comments
"According to their theory, deuterium was absorbed by the palladium electrode and fused there, releasing the extra heat."
That is not a theory; it is an observation. Cold fusion cells produce heat and helium in the same ratio to the heat as plasma fusion reactors do. Therefore, the reaction is fusion. (It is not possible to measure the decrease in deuterium in the cell but researchers assume that deuterium is being consumed.)
A chemical reaction is ruled out because cell have only water and metal in them, which are chemically inert, and the reaction produces no chemical ash. Some cold fusion cells have produced 10,000 times more energy than a chemical cell of equivalent mass can produce.
Note that the cold fusion reaction has been independently replicated thousands of times, in over 200 mainstream laboratories such as Los Alamos, BARC and China Lake, and that researchers have published ~1,000 peer reviewed papers describing these replications, and ~2,500 others in conference proceedings, government reports and so on. You will find a list of papers and the full text from 600 papers here:
http://www.lenr-canr.org/
- Jed Rothwell
Librarian, LENR-CANR.org