Cold fusion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cold fusion is a controversial effect reported by some researchers to have been produced from
nuclear fusion at conditions near
room temperature and
atmospheric pressure. Early announcements raised hopes of a cheap source of electricity or fuel, but as yet, no
reproducible results have gained
scientific consensus as to the existence of the phenomenon.
The idea was brought into public consciousness by an announcement made in 1989 by the chemists
Stanley Pons and
Martin Fleischmann at the
University of Utah that they had generated excess heat that they believed at the time could only be explained by the occurrence of a nuclear reaction. Their apparatus was relatively simple: a pair of
electrodes immersed in
heavy water. Early attempts to replicate the effect were unsuccessful after which cold fusion gained a reputation as an example of
pathological science.
More than 490 reports in
peer-reviewed journals have suggested unexplained phenomenon from cold fusion experiments,
[1] including nearly 200 published reports of anomalous heat, and over 60 of anomalous tritium production.
[2] While many such reports have appeared in
non-mainstream publications, research reports in peer-reviewed journals, both positive
[3] and negative number more than 1,370.
[4]
The
United States Department of Energy convened a panel to investigate their claims in 1989.
[5] A second panel in 2004 reached similar conclusions, with reviewers identifying basic research areas that could help to resolve some of the controversies, and stating that the field would benefit from peer-reviewed funding proposal and archival journal article submission.
This last paragraph makes me smile as Mr. RP would like to remove the Dept. of Energy....looks like, it is possible.....free energy, which brings me to the movie the SAINT!