The "60 Minutes" piece on Sunday night revisited so-called COLD FUSION.
Electrochemists Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons reported "excess energy" from a palladium and deuterium experiment in 1989. This turned into the classic for Publish AND Perish.
Turned out that these setups are not reliable. Sometimes they work. Usually they do not. "Cold fusion" got to be an international joke -- cited as fake science.
Last month, though, we got low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR) covered by American Chemical Society. Articles show both evidence for the underlying nuclear process and descriptions of a number of successful demonstrations.
This is a technology with the potential to change our civilization. More below the fold :::
Here is a pic of cold fusion at the smallest level:
Pamela Mosier-Boss PhD co-author image of TRIPLE-TRACKS.
From the ACM press release and materials, cited at Eurekalert:
In the new study, Mosier-Boss and colleagues inserted an electrode composed of nickel or gold wire into a solution of palladium chloride mixed with deuterium or "heavy water" in a process called co-deposition. A single atom of deuterium contains one neutron and one proton in its nucleus.
Researchers passed electric current through the solution, causing a reaction within seconds. The scientists then used a special plastic, CR-39, to capture and track any high-energy particles that may have been emitted during reactions, including any neutrons emitted during the fusion of deuterium atoms.
At the end of the experiment, they examined the plastic with a microscope and discovered patterns of "triple tracks," tiny-clusters of three adjacent pits that appear to split apart from a single point. The researchers say that the track marks were made by subatomic particles released when neutrons smashed into the plastic. Importantly, Mosier-Boss and colleagues believe that the neutrons originated in nuclear reactions, perhaps from the combining or fusing deuterium nuclei. "People have always asked 'Where's the neutrons?'" Mosier-Boss says. "If you have fusion going on, then you have to have neutrons. We now have evidence that there are neutrons present in these LENR reactions."
Caption: An experimental "cold fusion" device produced this pattern of "triple tracks" which scientists say is caused by high-energy nuclear particles resulting from a nuclear reaction
Credit: Pam Boss, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR)
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Anybody here think that SPAWAR is a gaggle of amateurs ??? SPAWAR's reputation is that it is a super-class skunk works.
Here is the page for the Eurekalert posting.
Consider this description from Tadahiko Mizuno, Department of Nuclear Engineering. Hokkaido National University, Japan:
Excess heat, gamma radiation production from an unconventional LENR device — Tadahiko Mizuno, Ph.D., has reported the production of excess heat generation and gamma ray emissions from an unconventional LENR device that uses phenanthrene, a type of hydrocarbon, as a reactant.
It is starting to sound like the scientists are closing in on one or more processes that can make this work.
I'm not sure what unlimited energy would do for us. Get energy with minimal heat generation and no air pollution -- its worth a try.