Cold fusion refers to nuclear fusion In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple atomic nuclei join together to form a single heavier nucleus. It is accompanied by the release or absorption of energy. Large scale fusion processes, involving many atoms fusing at once, must occur in matter which is at very high densities of atoms at conditions close to room temperature, in contrast to the conditions of well-understood fusion reactions such as those inside stars and high energy experiments. Interest in the field increased dramatically after nuclear fusion was reported in a tabletop experiment involving electrolysis In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis (from the Greek λύσις, and ἤλεκτρον (ɛː́lektron = amber)) is a method of using a direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially highly important as a stage in the separation of elements from naturally occurring sources of heavy water Heavy water is water containing a higher-than-normal proportion of the hydrogen isotope deuterium, either as deuterium oxide, D2O or ²H2O, or as deuterium protium oxide, HDO or ¹H²HO. Physically and chemically, it resembles water, H2O; in water, the deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio is about 156ppm, . Heavy water is water that was highly enriched in on a palladium Palladium is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pd and an atomic number of 46. Palladium is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal that was discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston, who named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired by her when she slew Pallas (Pd) electrode[1] by Martin Fleischmann Martin Fleischmann is a British chemist noted for his work in electrochemistry. He came to wider public prominence following his controversial publication of work with colleague Stanley Pons on cold fusion using palladium in the 1980s and '90s, then one of the world's leading electro-chemists Electrochemistry is a branch of chemistry that studies chemical reactions which take place in a solution at the interface of an electron conductor and an ionic conductor (the electrolyte), and which involve electron transfer between the electrode and the electrolyte or species in solution,[2] and Stanley Pons Stanley Pons is a French electrochemist known for his work with Martin Fleischmann on cold fusion in the 1980s and '90s in 1989. They reported anomalous heat production ("excess heat") of a magnitude they asserted would defy explanation except in terms of nuclear processes. They further reported measuring small amounts of nuclear reaction byproducts, including neutrons The neutron is a subatomic particle with no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. They are usually found in atomic nuclei. The nuclei of most atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of protons in a nucleus is the atomic number and defines the type and tritium Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The nucleus of tritium (sometimes called a triton) contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of protium (by far the most abundant hydrogen isotope) contains one proton and no neutrons. Naturally-occurring tritium is extremely rare on the Earth, where trace amounts are formed by the.[3] These reports raised hopes of a cheap and abundant source of energy.[4]
Enthusiasm turned to skepticism as replication failures were weighed in view of several reasons Cold fusion refers to nuclear fusion of atoms at conditions close to room temperature, in contrast to the conditions of well-understood fusion reactions such as those inside stars and high energy experiments. Interest in the field increased dramatically after nuclear fusion was reported in a tabletop experiment involving electrolysis of heavy cold fusion is not likely to occur, the discovery of possible sources of experimental error, and finally the discovery that Fleischmann and Pons had not actually detected nuclear reaction byproducts.[5] By late 1989, most scientists considered cold fusion claims dead,[6] and cold fusion subsequently gained a reputation as pathological science Pathological science is the process in science in which "people are tricked into false results ... by subjective effects, wishful thinking or threshold interactions". The term was first used by Irving Langmuir, Nobel Prize-winning chemist, during a 1953 colloquium at the Knolls Research Laboratory. Langmuir said a pathological science is.[7] However, some researchers continue to investigate cold fusion,[6][8][9][10] and some have reported positive results at mainstream conferences and in peer-reviewed journals.[11][12] Cold fusion research sometimes is referred to as low energy nuclear reaction (LENR) studies or condensed matter nuclear science,[13] in order to avoid negative connotations.[14][15]
In 1989, the majority of a review panel organized by the US Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material. Its responsibilities include the nation's nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy conservation, (DOE) found that the evidence for the discovery of a new nuclear process was not persuasive. There have been few mainstream reviews of the field since 1990. A second DOE review, convened in 2004 to look at new research, reached conclusions similar to the first.[16]
Prior use of the term
The term "cold fusion" was used as early as 1956 in a New York Times article about Luis W. Alvarez Luis W. Alvarez was an American experimental physicist and inventor, who spent nearly all of his long professional career on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley. The American Journal of Physics commented, "Luis Alvarez (1911–1988) was one of the most brilliant and productive experimental physicists of the twentieth century' work on muon-catalyzed fusion.[17]
E. Paul Palmer of Brigham Young University Brigham Young University , located in Provo, Utah, United States, is a private, coeducational research university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church). It is the oldest existing institution within the LDS Church Educational System, is America's largest religious university, and has the second-largest also used the term "cold fusion" in 1986 in an investigation of "geo-fusion", the possible existence of fusion in a planetary core It is thought that some gas giants orbiting very close to their primaries may have their atmospheres stripped away, leaving only their core behind. This as-yet hypothetical class of planets are called "Chthonian.".[18]
History
Before the Fleischmann-Pons experiment
The ability of palladium to absorb hydrogen was recognized as early as the nineteenth century by Thomas Graham Thomas Graham FRS was a nineteenth-century Scottish chemist who is best-remembered today for his pioneering work in dialysis and the diffusion of gases.[19] In the late 1920s, two Austrian born scientists, Friedrich Paneth Friedrich Adolf Paneth was an Austrian-born British chemist. Fleeing the Nazis, he escaped to Britain and became a British citizen in 1939 but returned as director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in 1953 and Kurt Peters, originally reported the transformation of hydrogen into helium by spontaneous nuclear catalysis when hydrogen was absorbed by finely divided palladium at room temperature. However, the authors later retracted that report, acknowledging that the helium they measured was due to background from the air.[19][20]
In 1927, Swedish scientist J. Tandberg stated that he had fused hydrogen into helium in an electrolytic cell An electrolytic cell decomposes chemical compounds by means of electrical energy, in a process called electrolysis; the Greek word lysis means to break up. The result is that the chemical energy is increased. Important examples of electrolysis are the decomposition of water into hydrogen and hydroxide, and bauxite into aluminium and other with palladium electrodes.[19] On the basis of his work, he applied for a Swedish patent for "a method to produce helium and useful reaction energy". After deuterium Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is a stable isotope of hydrogen with a natural abundance in the oceans of Earth of approximately one atom in 6,400 of hydrogen . Deuterium thus accounts for approximately 0.0156% (alternately, on a mass basis: 0.0312%) of all naturally occurring hydrogen in the oceans on Earth (see VSMOW; the abundance was discovered in 1932, Tandberg continued his experiments with heavy water Heavy water is water containing a higher-than-normal proportion of the hydrogen isotope deuterium, either as deuterium oxide, D2O or ²H2O, or as deuterium protium oxide, HDO or ¹H²HO. Physically and chemically, it resembles water, H2O; in water, the deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio is about 156ppm, . Heavy water is water that was highly enriched in. Due to Paneth and Peters' retraction, Tandberg's patent application was eventually denied.[19]
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Louisville Courier-Journal
... despite a dressing of wasabi mayonnaise; a salad of cold buckwheat noodles and cold vegetables possesses an austere, Zen-like purity that seems almost ...
