Cold Fusion Bubble Experiments Verfied

[Avatar28]

Now if we can get practical power production out of this...

http://www.rpi.edu/web/News/press_re...ahey.htm#cool:

TROY, N.Y. — Physical Review E has announced the publication of an article by a team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Purdue University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the Russian Academy of Science (RAS) stating that they have replicated and extended previous experimental results that indicated the occurrence of nuclear fusion using a novel approach for plasma confinement.

The research team used a standing ultrasonic wave to help form and then implode the cavitation bubbles of deuterated acetone vapor. The oscillating sound waves caused the bubbles to expand and then violently collapse, creating strong compression shock waves around and inside the bubbles. Moving at about the speed of sound, the internal shock waves impacted at the center of the bubbles causing very high compression and accompanying temperatures of about 100 million Kelvin.

These new data were taken with an upgraded instrumentation system that allowed data acquisition over a much longer time than was possible in the team’s previous bubble fusion experiments. According to the new data, the observed neutron emission was several orders of magnitude greater than background and had extremely high statistical accuracy. Tritium, which also is produced during the fusion reactions, was measured and the amount produced was found to be consistent with the observed neutron production rate.

[Laser Jock]

... about 100 million Kelvin.

I wouldn't quite call that cold fusion. Nice result though.

[Avatar28]

... about 100 million Kelvin.

I wouldn't quite call that cold fusion. Nice result though.

Picky picky picky. :-)

[Donnie B.]

That's an elegant technique.

In one sense, I think it's fair to call it cold fusion, since the high temperatures occur only in the collapsed bubbles, rather than the bulk material. On the other hand, that's where the fusion takes place... hmmm.

I hope this perfectly reasonable research doesn't get tarred with the Pons-Fleichman "cold fusion" brush. That alone is a good reason not to call this cold fusion.

[Donnie B.]

So, when can I buy my Mr. Bubble Fusion Dynamo? :P

[Doodler]

Waitasec, this technique is step 1 towards a practical fusion reactor, or is it an academic exercise that can't be applied in a power generation system?

[kg034]

Great if this pans out!....There was a lot of controversy a couple of years back with the initial publication of the group's results in Science...where basically, IIRC, Don Kennedy overruled the reviewers. Perhaps it might turn out that it was the correct, but not scientifically justified at the time, decision.

Now if we can get practical power production out of this...

http://www.rpi.edu/web/News/press_re...ahey.htm#cool:
[snip....]

and speaking of nuclear stuff, the drudge report is reporting a coolant leak at Fermi2 reactor in Michigan...with no indication of radioactive release....
How reliable is the drudge report?

[Grey]

Waitasec, this technique is step 1 towards a practical fusion reactor, or is it an academic exercise that can't be applied in a power generation system?

From what I've heard, this has a lot of potential for research (it would make it pretty easy to study fusion reactions with only modest equipment), but the process isn't terribly likely to scale up well, so use as a power source is unlikely. The power produced through fusion here is on the order of 10^-7 watts, so vastly less than the power put in.

[Ut]

w00t!
Let's celebrate! Who wants some bubbly?

[A Thousand Pardons]

In one sense, I think it's fair to call it cold fusion, since the high temperatures occur only in the collapsed bubbles, rather than the bulk material. On the other hand, that's where the fusion takes place... hmmm.

Isn't it the case that the cold fusion always has to have isolated temperatures like that?

[Kebsis]

and speaking of nuclear stuff, the drudge report is reporting a coolant leak at Fermi2 reactor in Michigan...with no indication of radioactive release....
How reliable is the drudge report?

Drudge usually just picks up stories in the media already, so he is only as reliable as his source material (usually online newspapers).

[sarongsong]

"...Officials...said water leaked from a non-radioactive cooling system at the plant...No radioactive water leaked...fixed Monday night and the power company was working with the NRC to determine a schedule to restart the reactor..."
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...0724053.htm?1c

[Paul Mitchell]

In one sense, I think it's fair to call it cold fusion, since the high temperatures occur only in the collapsed bubbles, rather than the bulk material. On the other hand, that's where the fusion takes place... hmmm.

It might be "cold" apparatus, but at 100MK the fusion is definitely not cold.

[Captain Kidd]

Yeah but he often beats the main media outlets (CNN, Foxnews, MSNBC, etc) to stuff, a lot of his links are also to AP and Reuters along with more obscure small local newspapers and stations. If you're asking does he make stuff up or have an agenda; well agenda-wise some claim he's either a right winger or just a gossip, or both. His big claim to fame stems from when he broke the Lewenski case when Newsweek was waffling on deciding if they wanted to run it. (I think he's also credited with linking to the smalltown newsguy that was questioning the validity of the CBS National Guard document.)

As for the Fermi II incident. I'll do some checking, usually if it's major, we'd have recieved a bulletin about it. Our daily industry update comes out around noon to 2pm so it'll have some stuff. Might be nothing more than just a sample line breaking or a leaky valve, might be more but I doubt it. That news article was the definition of vague.

[Eta C]

An interesting experiment, if not exactly hot off the press (published about a year ago. Here's a link to the journal article's abstract. You need to pay to get the paper (or go to your nearest physics department library).

This really shouldn't be called "cold fusion" as that term has forever been marked by the P&F fiasco. These folks are doing traditional fusion by plasma confinement. The unique aspect is the novel method they've used to achieve confinement. It sounds, however, like they're even further from break-even than the more traditional tokomak reactors. Time for more research.

Edited to add: Here's the AIP Physics News Update from last March. Sounds like there are still some skeptics out there.

[ocasey3]

Here is a local news station report of Fermi II:
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4125644/detail.html

[Fortis]

This really shouldn't be called "cold fusion" as that term has forever been marked by the P&F fiasco.

Though there is an accepted form of cold fusion that existed before the F&P debacle. Muon induced fusion relied on the replacement of electrons in H2 by muons, thus bringing the nuclei much closer together, and hence improving the odds for spontaneous fusion.
http://www.csulb.edu/~acaproj/Spring96/hu.html
I seem to recall that this was actually put forward as a possible explanation for the wide variation in the apparent success of FP devices, i.e. detection of fusion may have correlated with altitude, and other factors influencing the ambient muon flux in the labs testing FP devices, hence explaining why some labs achieved positive results while others did not.

[Gullible Jones]

Wow.

*Begins thinking up possible uses...*