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Nuclear Fusion

Cold Fusion



The scientific world was stunned in March of 1989 when two electrochemists, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, reported that they had obtained evidence for the occurrence of nuclear fusion at room temperatures. During the electrolysis of heavy water (deuterium oxide), it appeared that the fusion of deuterons was made possible by the presence of palladium electrodes used in the reaction. If such an observation could have been confirmed by other scientists, it would have been truly revolutionary. It would have meant that energy could be obtained from fusion reactions at moderate temperatures.



The Pons-Fleischmann discovery was the subject of immediate and intense scrutiny by other scientists around the world. It soon became apparent, however, that evidence for cold fusion could not consistently be obtained by other researchers. A number of alternative explanations were developed by scientists for the fusion results that Pons and Fleischmann believed they had obtained. Today, some scientists are still convinced that Pons and Fleischmann had made a real and important breakthrough in the area of fusion research. Most researchers, however, attribute the results they reported to other events that occurred during the electrolysis of the heavy water.


Resources

Books

Carlisle, Rodney P. Encyclopedia of the Atomic Age. New York: Facts on File, 2001.

Morris, Robert. The Environmental Case for Nuclear Power. New York: Paragon Press, 2000.

Peat, F. David. Cold Fusion: The Making of a Scientific Controversy. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1989.

Proliferation: Threat and Response. Washington DC: Department of Defense, 2001. p.15.

Richardson, Hazel, and Scoular Anderson. How to Split the Atom. Franklin Watts, 2001.


Periodicals

Cordey, J. Geoffrey. "Progress toward a Tokamak Fusion Reactor." Physics Today January 1992, pp. 22-30.

Hogan, William J. "Energy from Inertial Fusion." Physics Today September 1992, pp. 42-50.

Jensen, Torkil H. "Fusion-A Potential Power Source." Journal of Chemical Education October 1994, pp. 820-823.


Organizations

The Nuclear Energy Institute [cited March 2003] <http://www.nei.org/>.

Other

U.S. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment. Starpower: The U.S. and the International Quest for Fusion Energy. Washington, DC: Office of Technology Assessment, 1987.


David E. Newton

KEY TERMS

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Cold fusion

—A form of fusion that some researchers believe can occur at or near room temperatures as the result of the combination of deuterons with palladium metal as a catalyst.

Deuteron

—The nucleus of the deuterium atom, consisting of one proton combined with one neutron.

Isotopes

—Two or more forms of the same element, whose atoms differ from each other in the number of neutrons contained in their nuclei.

Neutron

—A subatomic particle with a mass of about one atomic mass unit and no electrical charge.

Nuclear fission

—A nuclear reaction in which one large atomic nucleus breaks apart into at least two smaller particles.

Nucleus

—The core of an atom consisting of one or more protons and, usually, one or more neutrons.

Plasma

—A form of matter that consists of positively charged particles and electrons completely independent of each other.

Proton

—A subatomic particle with a mass of about one atomic mass unit and a single positive charge.

Thermonuclear reaction

—A nuclear reaction that takes place only at very high temperatures, usually of the order of a few million degrees.

Additional topics

Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) to Ockham's razorNuclear Fusion - Some Typical Fusion Reactions, Naturally Occurring Fusion Reactions, Thermonuclear Reactions, Fusion Reactions On Earth