Cold Fusion? Are You Kidding?

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I am reporting on some breaking news that has NO outside scientific verification.  Since it purports to be a commercial venture,  that fact is not terribly surprising.  I am not 100% (ok, my numbers are in the single to low double digits) certain of its veracity.  But, if it is even partially true, it is worth examining- for its scientific, economic, and practical benefits.

Sergio Focardi and Andrea Rossi provided a press conference this weekend announcing they had developed a usable fusion process.  These two University of Bologna professors had their paper rejected by a series of academic journals- but did publish results in the online Journal of Nuclear Physics.  The problem is that it seems like the journal is run by these profs and some friends.  So, we still don’t know if there is some truth here.

(The original link to the press conference above no longer exists [June 2018].  Here’s a link to similar material by these folks.)

There is a patent application.  It doesn’t provide much real data, either.  So, now that I’ve knocked the concept, here are the only facts we know.   For atoms along the periodic table, if their atomic number is lower than 25 or 28, fusion of nuclei liberates energy.  For those larger atoms, fusion absorbs energy.  (This is the opposite for fission processes).  Nickel and iron have the lowest binding energy the energy required to disassemble an atom into free electrons and a nucleus) per nucleon.  That’s what makes this announcement at least intriguing- they are using Nickel.  And, it still takes a ton of energy to cause nuclei to fuse (no, I won’t go into the physics here)- typically by heating the atoms to very high temperatures, so that the Coulomb barrier (energy barrier to counteract the repulsion forces between two nuclei) can be overcome.

These folks add hydrogen to nickel; at first the hydrogen is absorbed, but at 400 C (their claim), they get copper to form.  (Copper could potentially form if one proton is added to the nucleus of nickel.)  This transmutation occurs (according to the authors) at 400 C and pressures of  2 to 20 atm (28 to 300 psi).

My problem is that these folks claim energy development of 10 to 35 times that required for the development (inception) of the process.  However, my calculations (I admit to being a very poor physicist) seem to indicate that the process is endothermic (requires heat energy) and not exothermic (releases heat energy), to the tune of some 2 MeV, as opposed to their claim of 10MeV release.  (It takes about 8.2 MeV to get the transmutation to occur.)

This could just be another scientific chicanery. Stay tuned to see if there are more developments…

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4 thoughts on “Cold Fusion? Are You Kidding?”

  1. I have many question about your post. I think u should write lot of more details. But Thanks anymore

    1. Rapidshare Search I would love to provide more information. The problem is that the “inventors” have been (deliberately) vague. And, as such, I can only provide a commentary on what they did report, claim in their patent applications, and in their interviews. Thanks for your comment. RAAckerman

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