Cold fusion: Difference between revisions
Gareth Owen (talk | contribs) Slight reorder to give a intro sentence. |
Larry_Sanger (talk) Moving external links to a combination of "notes" and external links. We should never let external links do explanatory work we ourselves might want to do someday. |
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'''Cold Fusion''' is a form of [[nuclear fusion]] so-called because it is said to occur at or near room temperature, as compared to conventional [[nuclear fusion]], which requires a very hot (100 million degrees) [[plasma]]. In [[1989]], Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann claimed that they observed cold fusion when they observed excess amounts of heat coming from a room temperature liquid solution with special metal electrodes inserted into it. This claim was surrounded by a lot of media attention and excitement which brought the phrase cold fusion into popular consciousness. A few months after the initial cold fusion claims, the Energy Research Advisory Board (part of the US Dept of Energy) formed a special panel to investigate cold fusion and the scientists in the panel found the evidence for cold fusion to be unconvincing. |
'''Cold Fusion''' is a form of [[nuclear fusion]] so-called because it is said to occur at or near room temperature, as compared to conventional [[nuclear fusion]], which requires a very hot (100 million degrees) [[plasma]]. In [[1989]], Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann claimed that they observed cold fusion when they observed excess amounts of heat coming from a room temperature liquid solution with special metal electrodes inserted into it. This claim was surrounded by a lot of media attention and excitement which brought the phrase cold fusion into popular consciousness. A few months after the initial cold fusion claims, the Energy Research Advisory Board (part of the US Dept of Energy) formed a special panel to investigate cold fusion and the scientists in the panel found the evidence for cold fusion to be unconvincing. [http://www.ncas.org/erab/sec5.htm] |
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| ⚫ | The most common experiments involve a metal electrode (usually palladium or titanium) which has been specially treated so that it is saturated with dueterium and placed in an electrolytic heavy water solution. The experimenters saw extra heat coming from this system which was not readily explained by the electrolytic reaction itself. Some experiments also saw some fusion products (helium and tritium), but basically no nuetrons coming from the experimental cells. |
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| ⚫ | The most common experiments involve a metal electrode (usually palladium or titanium) which has been specially treated so that it is saturated with dueterium and placed in an electrolytic heavy water solution. The experimenters saw extra heat coming from this system which was not readily explained by the electrolytic reaction itself. Some experiments also saw some fusion products (helium and tritium), but basically no nuetrons coming from the experimental cells. |
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<h3>References</h3> |
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External links: |
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* Someone still trying to do cold fusion: http://www.mv.com/ipusers/zeropoint/IEHTML/faq.html |
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Revision as of 19:16, 13 December 2001
Cold Fusion is a form of nuclear fusion so-called because it is said to occur at or near room temperature, as compared to conventional nuclear fusion, which requires a very hot (100 million degrees) plasma. In 1989, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann claimed that they observed cold fusion when they observed excess amounts of heat coming from a room temperature liquid solution with special metal electrodes inserted into it. This claim was surrounded by a lot of media attention and excitement which brought the phrase cold fusion into popular consciousness. A few months after the initial cold fusion claims, the Energy Research Advisory Board (part of the US Dept of Energy) formed a special panel to investigate cold fusion and the scientists in the panel found the evidence for cold fusion to be unconvincing. [1]
The most common experiments involve a metal electrode (usually palladium or titanium) which has been specially treated so that it is saturated with dueterium and placed in an electrolytic heavy water solution. The experimenters saw extra heat coming from this system which was not readily explained by the electrolytic reaction itself. Some experiments also saw some fusion products (helium and tritium), but basically no nuetrons coming from the experimental cells.
There are still a few people trying to do cold fusion. [2]
Robert L. Park (2000) gives a decent account of cold fusion and its history which represents the perspective of the mainstream scientific community.
References
Robert L. Park: Voodoo Science. The Road from Foolishness to Fraud. Oxford University Press, New York, 2000.
External links:
- Energy Research Advisory Board conclusions: http://www.ncas.org/erab/sec5.htm
- Someone still trying to do cold fusion: http://www.mv.com/ipusers/zeropoint/IEHTML/faq.html