Cold fusion?

Question

Is cold fusion a reality or just an illusion?

Answer 1

The best place I've found for papers on cold fusion is http://www.lenr-canr.org/

My deli.icio.us links on cold fusion: http://del.icio.us/reece.arnott/ColdFusion

Among these links are some to the US Department of Energy 2004 review on cold fusion along with a followup by a cold fusion proponent.

The cold fusion field is not quite mature in the sense that there is no consistent theory to explain all the results and sometimes the same experiment gives different results (although this is happening less often now). Over time the various researchers have found (mostly through trial and error) threshold values that may explain why previous experiments were not reproducible.

It may be that the excess heat is not from fusion at all. It is just that the amount of heat is in the same order of magnitude as would be produced by turning mass into energy via E=mc2 which is way more than any chemical reaction that can be conceived. Some experiments that were looking for fusion by-products found them (but in totally different ratios than in hot fusion reactions) so I think it is likely that it is fusion but not as we know it.

A survey carried out at cold fusion conferences 5 years apart (with unfortunately a small sample of researchers and experimenters) has found the average reproducibility rates increased from just under 40% to over 60%. I got these numbers from a table in a book I don't have in front of me so they may be a little off.

In some cases there is claimed to be 100% reproducibility if you take into account the various threshold values that have been found.

In my view (as an interested layman) it seems that there is enough evidence to say that cold fusion is real but as there isn't a theory that is consistent with all the results it is probably going to be a while before this is going to result in something that can 'save the world'.

Answer 2

Cold fusion that forces the nuclei of atoms close enough to fuse (against powerful forces of repulsion) without the use of tremendous heat and pressure has not been demonstrated to the satisfaction of scientific peer review, including duplication of experiments in independent labs. The process must give off more energy than that required to force the reaction or the transformation of atoms to heavier atoms must be proved. At present the process is likely somewhere between reality and illusion, except on a very tiny scale in the link?

Answer 3

Presently...just an illusion.

BUT not that long ago, the Internet was just an illusion...

LOOK AT IT NOW.

Answer 4

It is a reality ! It is off the radar screen, but that doesn't mean it isn't real.

-JChan

http://www.atomicmotor.com

Answer 5

is really