Heh - Cold Fusion not quite dead yet
The US Navy is funding several unconventional fusion reactors, chiefly the Electrostatic Containment (Polywell) being researched by
the fine folks at EMC2. These machines work just fine producing a solid stream of neutrons, they just don't make enough to go over unity.
Now it seems that the Navy is also looking into the classical
Cold Fusion that was so roundly debunked in the early 90's and they are getting results.
From the
Electronics Engineering Times:
Cold fusion experimentally confirmed
U.S. Navy researchers claimed to have experimentally confirmed cold fusion in a presentation at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting.
"We have compelling evidence that fusion reactions are occurring" at room temperature, said Pamela Mosier-Boss, a scientist with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (San Diego). The results are "the first scientific report of highly energetic neutrons from low-energy nuclear reactions," she added.
Some more:
Now, the Naval researchers claim that the problem was instrumentation, which was not up to the task of detecting such small numbers of neutrons. To sense such small quantities, Mosier-Boss used a special plastic detector called CR-39. Using co-deposition with nickel and gold wire electrodes, which were inserted into a mixture of palladium chloride and deutrium, the detector was able to capture and track the high-energy neutrons.
The plastic detector captured a pattern of tiny clusters of adjacent pits, called triple tracks, which the researchers claim is evidence of the telltale neutrons.
Other presenters at the conference also presented evidence supporting cold fusion, including Antonella De Ninno, a scientist with New Technologies Energy and Environment (Rome), who reported both excess heat and helium gas.
"We now have very convincing experimental evidence," De Ninno claimed.
Tadahiko Mizuno of Japan's Hokkaido University also reported excess heat generation and gamma-ray emissions.
It would be a lot of fun if Pons and Fleischmann got the Nobel for their work...
Posted by DaveH at March 24, 2009 7:34 PM
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