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New evidence of cold fusion

Triple tracks of cold fusion. (Source)

Researchers from the U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR) have reportedly observed lab-controlled cold fusion. If true, these experiments will undoubtedly reignite the dying fire of controversy over the possibility to create and manage cold fusion, which theoretically could be used as a cheap, limitless energy supply.

 

The story begins in 1989, when two scientists, Martin Fleishmann and Stanley Pons, claimed to have successfully achieved cold fusion in their laboratory. Fusion is the source of energy for stars like our sun, and scientists have long been attempting to recreate the process on Earth using deuterium, or heavy water, which is a form of fuel that can easily be extracted from seawater. A deuterium atom has one proton and one neutron—and it is the neutron that is essential. If the neutron can’t be identified after a fusion event, then there really isn’t proof that fusion occurred.

 

Fleishmann and Pons “claimed achieving nuclear fusion at comparatively "cold" room temperatures — in a simple tabletop laboratory device termed an electrolytic cell.” [EurekAlert] This caused a frenzy in the science world, with other researchers scrambling to reproduce the results of the sensational experiment. But no one could reproduce the results, and cold fusion fell away in the annals of controversial science.

 

The front has been quiet for nearly two decades, but clearly silence does not mean no one was working on the problem. The name has changed from cold fusion to low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR), but the hunt is the same: they are still searching for the neutrons to mark the occurrence of fusion. And it appears that someone has finally found them. Pamela Mosier-Boss, analytical chemist at SPAWAR and co-author of the study, states, "Our finding is very significant...To our knowledge, this is the first scientific report of the production of highly energetic neutrons from an LENR device." [EurekAlert]

 

Using an electrode of gold or nickel, the team sent and electric current through a solution of palladium chloride mixed with deuterium, causing a reaction within seconds. Using a special chamber made of CR-39 plastic, they were able “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...[that] were made by subatomic particles released when neutrons smashed into the plastic.” [EurekAlert] The picture above is an example of the tracks.

 

It is believed that these “triple tracks” are proof that the neutrons are active during the reaction. But there is still some uncertainty as to what happening to cause the neutrons to appear. The team believes, though, “that the neutrons originated in nuclear reactions, perhaps from the combining or fusing deuterium nuclei.” [EurekAlert]

 

One aspect standing in the way of applying this research to practical purposes (such as creating that limitless energy for the world) most likely stems directly from the controversy all those years ago. According to Mosier-Boss, the field receives very little funding, but that is no real surprise. It is a difficult to move beyond past stigmas, especially when they were on the scope of the Fleishmann /Pons debacle. But if these experiments pan out (and can be recreated by other scientists), perhaps these results will help to boost interest in the field once again. After all, if LENR can truly be achieved, it could produce a veritable goldmine of energy for electricity.

 

This research was presented at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting in Salt Lake City.

 

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