Cold fusion

: This article is about the nuclear reaction. For the computer programming language, see ColdFusion.

History

Early work

Palladium and titanium have a proven ability to absorb large quantities of hydrogen. Although the distance between hydrogen nuclei suspended in such metals is no less than it is in other situations (such as a molecule of water), it has been suggested that these metals might, by bringing the deuterium atoms close together, catalyze the fusion of deuterium at ordinary temperatures.

Related Topics:
Palladium - Titanium - Hydrogen - Catalyze - Deuterium

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The special ability of palladium to absorb hydrogen was recognized in the 19th century. In the late 1920s, two German scientists, Fritz Paneth and Kurt Peters, reported the transformation of hydrogen into helium by spontaneous nuclear catalysis when hydrogen is absorbed by finely divided palladium at room temperature. These authors later acknowledged that the helium they measured was due to background from the air or the glassware they used.

Related Topics:
Palladium - 19th century - 1920s - German

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In 1927, Swedish scientist John Tandberg said that he had fused hydrogen into helium in an electrolytic cell with palladium electrodes. On the basis of his work he applied for a Swedish patent for "a method to produce helium and useful reaction energy". After deuterium was discovered in 1932, Tandberg continued his experiments with heavy water. Due to Paneth and Peters' retraction, Tandberg's patent application was eventually denied.

Related Topics:
1927 - Swedish - Electrolytic cell - 1932 - Heavy water

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Pons and Fleischmann's experiment

On March 23, 1989, the chemists Stanley Pons of the University of Utah and Martin Fleischmann of the University of Southampton ("P and F") held a press conference and reported the production of excess heat that could only be explained by a nuclear process. The report was particularly astounding given the simplicity of the equipment, just a water electrolysis experiment; a pair of electrodes connected to a battery and immersed in a jar of heavy water (dideuterium oxide). The press reported on the experiments widely, and it was one of the front-page items on most newspapers around the world. The immense beneficial implications of the Utah experiments, if they were correct, and the ready availability of the required equipment, led scientists around the world to attempt to repeat the experiments within hours of the announcement.

Related Topics:
March 23 - 1989 - Stanley Pons - University of Utah - Martin Fleischmann - University of Southampton - Electrolysis - Heavy water

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The press conference followed about a year of work of increasing tempo by Pons and Fleischmann, who had been working on their basic experiments since 1984. Their collaboration goes back even further than this, however. Pons had been a graduate student of Fleischmann's at the University of Southampton. In 1988 they applied to the U.S. Department of Energy for funding for a larger series of experiments: up to this point they had been running their experiments "out of pocket".

Related Topics:
1984 - University of Southampton - 1988 - U.S. Department of Energy

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The term "cold fusion" was coined by Dr Paul Palmer of Brigham Young University in 1986 in an investigation of "geo-fusion", or the possible existence of fusion in a planetary core. The term was then applied to the Fleischmann-Pons experiment in 1989.

Related Topics:
Brigham Young University - 1986 - Planetary core - 1989

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The grant proposal was turned over to several people for peer review, including Steven Jones of Brigham Young University. Jones had worked on muon-catalyzed fusion for some time, and had written an article on the topic entitled "Cold Nuclear Fusion" that had been published in Scientific American, July 1987. He had since turned his attention to the problem of fusion in high-pressure environments, believing that fusion in the metallic hydrogen core of Jupiter might be responsible for the higher than normal temperatures of that planet. Paul Palmer noted that the same mechanism might explain the high interior temperature of the Earth (hotter than could be explained without nuclear reactions), and the unusually high concentrations of helium-3 around volcanoes, which implied some sort of nuclear reaction within. Jones started studying high-pressure fusion, which he referred to as piezonuclear fusion, by working with diamond anvils; but he had since moved to

Related Topics:
Peer review - Brigham Young University - Muon-catalyzed fusion - Scientific American - 1987 - Metallic hydrogen - Jupiter - Temperature - Earth - Helium-3 - Volcano - Nuclear reaction - Diamond anvil

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electrolytic cells similar to those being worked on by Pons and Fleischmann. In order to characterize the reactions, Jones had spent considerable time designing and building a neutron counter, one able to accurately measure the tiny numbers of neutrons being produced in his experiments.

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Both teams were in Utah, but did not know of each other's work until the peer review. After that, they met on several occasions to discuss sharing work and techniques. During this time Pons and Fleischmann described their experiments as generating considerable "excess energy", excess in that it could not be explained by chemical reactions alone. If this were true, their device would have considerable commercial value. Jones was measuring neutron flux instead and seems to have considered it primarily of scientific interest, not commercial. In order to avoid problems in the future, the teams apparently agreed to simultaneously publish their results, although their accounts of their March 6 meeting differ.

Related Topics:
Utah - Chemical reaction - Neutron - March 6

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In mid-March both teams were ready to publish, and Fleischmann and Jones were to meet at the airport on March 24 to both hand in their papers at the exact same time. However Pons and Fleischmann then "jumped the gun," and held their press conference the day before. Jones, apparently furious at being "scooped," faxed in his paper to Nature as soon as he saw the press announcements. The rush to publish perhaps did as much to muddy the field as any scientific aspects.

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Within days scientists around the world had started work on duplications of the experiments. On April 10 a team at Texas A&M University published results of excess heat, and later that day a team at the Georgia Institute of Technology announced neutron production. Both results were widely reported on in the press. Not so well reported was the fact that both teams soon withdrew their results for lack of evidence. For the next six weeks competing claims, counterclaims, and suggested explanations kept the topic on the front pages, and led to what writers have referred to as "fusion confusion."

Related Topics:
April 10 - Texas A&M University - Georgia Institute of Technology

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On April 12 Pons received a huge standing ovation during his presentation at the semi-annual meeting of the American Chemical Society. In May, the president of the University of Utah, who had already secured a $5 million commitment from his state legislature, asked for $25 million from the federal government to set up a "National Cold Fusion Institute". On May 1st a meeting of the American Physical Society held a sessionhttp://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/physics/Cold-fusion/vince-cate/aps.ascii on cold fusion that ran past midnight; a string of failed experiments were reported. A second session started the next evening and continued in much the same manner. To some degree this reflected a split between the "chemists" and the "physicists", though it also reflected a more general change in opinion during the weeks which passed between the meetings. Skepticism of the cold fusion claims was rising among both chemists and physicists as more experimentalists attempted and were unable to replicate the experiment.

Related Topics:
April 12 - Standing ovation - American Chemical Society - American Physical Society

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At the end of May the Energy Research Advisory Board (a standing advisory committee in the U.S. Department of Energy) formed a special panel to investigate cold fusion. The report of the panel after five months' study was that there was no convincing evidence for cold fusion, and that such an effect "would be contrary to all understanding gained of nuclear reactions in the last half century." It specifically recommended against any special funding for cold fusion research, but was "sympathetic toward modest support for carefully focused and cooperative experiments within the present funding system". http://www.ncas.org/erab/sec5.htm

Related Topics:
Energy Research Advisory Board - U.S. Department of Energy

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Both critics and those attempting replications were frustrated by what they said was incomplete information released by the University of Utah. With the initial reports suggesting successful duplication of their experiments there was not much public criticism, but a growing body of failed experiments started a "buzz" of its own. Pons and Fleischmann later apparently claimed that there was a "secret" to the experiment; on the other hand, Fleischmann said at a meeting in April that all the necessary details had been given in the published paper. The facts here are not clear; but if such data had been withheld, the report would have been outside the field of modern science, and scientists would have been justified in dismissing the matter out of hand.

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By the end of May much of the media attention had faded among the competing results and counterclaims. More significantly, the research effort decreased greatly as most attempts at replication failed and none produced definitive results. Nonetheless, projects continued around the world.

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Experimental set-up and observations

In their original set-up, Fleischmann and Pons used a Dewar flask (a double-walled vacuum flask) for the electrolysis, so that heat conduction would be minimal on the side and the bottom of the cell (only 5% of the heat loss in this experiment). The cell flask was then submerged in a bath maintained at constant temperature to eliminate the effect of external heat sources. They used an open cell, thus allowing the gaseous deuterium and oxygen resulting from the electrolysis reaction to leave the cell (with some heat too). It was necessary to replenish the cell with heavy water at regular intervals. For the temperature observations to be meaningful the cell must be kept at a uniform temperature. Rather than using a mechanical method of stirring, sparging with the generated D2 gas was done to equalize the temperature "when necessary"; however, the efficacy of this method of maintaining the cell at a uniform temperature would later be disputed. Special attention was

Related Topics:
Dewar flask - Electrolysis - Experiment - Gas - Heavy water - Sparging

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paid to the purity of the palladium cathode and electrolyte to prevent the build-up of material on its surface, especially after long periods of operation.

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The cell was also instrumented with a thermistor to measure the temperature of the electrolyte, and an electrical heater to generate pulses of heat and calibrate the heat loss due to the gas outlet. After calibration, it was possible to compute the heat generated by the reaction.

Related Topics:
Electrolyte - Calibration

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A constant current was applied to the cell continuously for many weeks, and heavy water was added as necessary. For most of the time, the power input to the cell was equal to the power that went out of the cell within measuring accuracy, and the cell temperature was stable at around 30 °C. But then, at some point (and in some of the experiments), the temperature reportedly rose suddenly to about 50 °C without changes in the input power, for durations of two days or more. The generated power was calculated to be about 20 times the input power during the power bursts. Eventually the power bursts in any one cell would no longer occur, and the cell was turned off.

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Pons and Fleischmann also initially reported that a cell was generating 2.45 MeV neutrons at a rate three times the natural background rate. There was, however, no equipment directly measuring neutron energies, and this report was based on a mistaken inference from a gamma-ray spectrum. The most spectacular result they reported was that in one cell most of the electrode melted and part of it vaporized, destroying the cell and the fume hood enclosing it.

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In the months after the initial report went public, a physicist colleague of Pons at the University of Utah, Michael Salomon, was invited into Pons' laboratory. In the five week period he and his research group observed the cells, no fusion products were detected. Pons stated that none of the cells were actively producing the excess heat at the time those observations were taking place, except during one two-hour period during which the detection equipment was unable to function because of a power failure. As neutron irradiation would produce small amounts of 24Na in the detector, Salomon quickly performed an analysis for that product, and found no amount consistent with power production of more than one microwatt. When Salomon and his co-workers had published their results in the journal Nature, each of them received a letter from attorney C. Gary Triggs, declaring that the "paper as published was untenable" and that it should be "voluntarily retracted." Triggs had, he said, been instructed by his clients "to take whatever action is deemed appropriate to protect their legal interests and reputations." Salomon and other scientists, perceiving this as an unprecedented threat against open scientific controversy, rejected the claims categorically and angrily; later, the threats were largely withdrawn.

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Continuing efforts

There are currently a number of people researching the possibilities of generating power with cold fusion. Scientists in several countries continue the research, and meet at the International Conference on Cold Fusion (see Proceedings at http://www.lenr-canr.org/index.html).

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The generation of excess heat has been reported by

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• Michael McKubre, director of the Energy Research Center at SRI International,
• Richard A. Oriani (University of Minnesota, in December 1990),
• Robert A. Huggins (at Stanford University in March 1990),
• Y. Arata (Osaka University, Japan),
• S. Szpak, Mosier-Boss (SPAWAR Naval Research Laboratory in 2004),

among others. In the best experimental set-up, excess heat was reported in 50% of the experiment reproductions. Various fusion ashes and transmutations were reported by some scientists.

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Dr. Michael McKubre thinks a working cold fusion reactor is possible. Dr. Edmund Storms, a former scientist with The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, maintains an international database of research into cold fusion.

Related Topics:
Los Alamos National Laboratory - New Mexico

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In March, 2004, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) decided to review all previous research of cold fusion in order to see whether further research was warranted by any new results. The review documenthttp://www.newenergytimes.com/reports/DOE/2004-DOE-Summary-Paper.pdf submitted to the DOE by the group of scientists who had requested a new review process states that "The experimental evidence for anomalies in metal deuterides, including excess heat and nuclear emissions, suggests the existence of new physical effects". It recognizes indirect evidence in support of the D + D → 4He + 23.8 MeV (heat) reaction, although the measurement of 4He quantity is imprecise. This review document was submitted to peer review, to a mixed but predominantly negative response. Of the 18 reviewers, "Two-thirds of the reviewers commenting on Charge Element 1 did not feel the evidence was conclusive

Related Topics:
2004 - U.S. Department of Energy - Peer review

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for low energy nuclear reactions, one found the evidence convincing, and the remainder indicated they

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were somewhat convinced. Many reviewers noted that poor experiment design, documentation,

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background control and other similar issues hampered the understanding and interpretation of the results

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presented." http://www.science.doe.gov/Sub/Newsroom/News_Releases/DOE-SC/2004/low_energy/CF_Final_120104.pdf

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In 2004, Mike McKubre of SRI International reported that the effect is highly dependent on the packing of deuterium in the electrode. He reports that with a deuterium/palladium ratio of 100% (i.e., one deuterium atom for each palladium atom) excess heat is consistently produced, whereas at a ratio of 90% only two experimental runs in 12 show excess heat. Should the effect turn out to be reproducible (which is not yet established in 2004), it should be possible to make experiments that will show definitely whether the heat is due to chemical effects, cold fusion, or some form of energy storage.

Related Topics:
2004 - SRI International

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As of 2004 the excess heat phenomenon remains unexplained, and the reported energy output has never been associated with an equivalent amount of fusion products of any kind. Although there may be a genuine physical phenomenon at work, the theory that it involves nuclear fusion is unproven and widely seen as unlikely. Less exotic theories have been proposed, but also remain unproven. After sixteen years of investigation, study continues, and investigators are hopeful that the phenomenon will be understood in a matter of years.

Related Topics:
2004 - Nuclear fusion

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