Hold your breath (Or not)

Overheal

http://gizmodo.com/393119/scientist-creates-cold-fusion-for-the-first-time-in-decades

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/24/0345245&from=rss

Cold fusion, the act of producing a nuclear reaction at room temperature, has long been relegated to science fiction after researchers were unable to recreate the experiment that first "discovered" the phenomenon. But a Japanese scientist was supposedly able to start a cold fusion reaction earlier this week, which—if the results are real—could revolutionize the way we gather energy.

Yoshiaki Arata, a highly respected physicist in Japan, demonstrated a low-energy nuclear reaction at Osaka University on Thursday. In front of a live audience, including reporters from six major newspapers and two TV studios, Arata and a co-professor Yue-Chang Zhang, produced excess heat and helium atoms from deuterium gas.


Arata used pressure to force deuterium gas into an evacuated cell that contained a palladium and zirconium oxide mix (ZrO2-Pd). Arata said that the mix caused the deuterium's nuclei to fuse, raising the temperature in the cell and keeping the center of the cell warm for 50 hours.


Arata's experiment would mark the first time anyone has witnessed cold fusion since 1989, when Martin Fleishmann and Stanely Pons supposedly observed excess heat during electrolysis of heavy water with palladium electrodes. When they and other researchers were unable to make it work again, cold fusion became synonymous with bad science.


But the method Arata showed was "highly reproducible," according to eye witnesses of the event. If nobody calls this demonstration out as a sham, Arata might have finally found the holy grail of cheap and abundant energy—nuclear power, without its destructive heat.

I'll believe it when I see it, but heres hoping.

Tar.Aldarion

Heavy water saves the day.

darkman2

Yay, Fusion power is here 50 years early!

Seaneh

darkman2 wrote: »

Yay, Fusion power is here 50 years early!

you do know they are building a very big fusion reactor in france right now?

We;ve had fusion power for a while, just not cold fusion.

darkman2

Seaneh wrote: »

you do know they are building a very big fusion reactor in france right now?

We;ve had fusion power for a while, just not cold fusion.

Eh, Fusion Power has never been achieved. Since the 50's it was known such source existed (and that fuel was plentiful in the oceans) but it has never been achieved. To this day it is not possible to create energy from fusion but it will be in the future. And it could theoretically supply the worlds need with little or no waste. So, no, a fusion plant most certainly is not being built in France or anywhere else for that matter - not yet.

amacachi

I just want to see Cold Fusion be a reality so those commie ****ers who'd rather we all lived on farms without mechanical or electronic devices lose their argument about electricity production harming the environment.

Seaneh

darkman2 wrote: »

Eh, Fusion Power has never been achieved. Since the 50's it was known such source existed (and that fuel was plentiful in the oceans) but it has never been achieved. To this day it is not possible to create energy from fusion but it will be in the future. And it could theoretically supply the worlds need with little or no waste. So, no, a fusion plant most certainly is not being built in France or anywhere else for that matter - not yet.

O RLY?

The BBC beg to differ with you on that one Ted!

amacachi

darkman2 wrote: »

Eh, Fusion Power has never been achieved. Since the 50's it was known such source existed (and that fuel was plentiful in the oceans) but it has never been achieved. To this day it is not possible to create energy from fusion but it will be in the future. And it could theoretically supply the worlds need with little or no waste. So, no, a fusion plant most certainly is not being built in France or anywhere else for that matter - not yet.

It's been achieved a ****load of times, just takes way more energy to create the reaction than what's given out, up til now at least.

Also aren't H bombs fusion reactions?

darkman2

Seaneh wrote: »

O RLY?

The BBC beg to differ with you on that one Ted!

Eh it has not been done yet. How are they going to store the high temperatures? That has always been the problem. It is not thought it can be done yet though if they do good luck to them. They won't for many years because it is not yet possible. What is under construction in France is just a research project.

Seaneh

darkman2 wrote: »

Eh it has not been done yet. How are they going to store the high temperatures? That has always been the problem. It is not thought it can be done yet though if they do good luck to them. They won't for many years because it is not yet possible. What is under construction in France is just a research project.

ya see, what you are doing is confusing Cold fusion with Fusion in general.

Fusion reactions are fairly common and this reactor they are building in france is a working model, they know it works, thats why they spent 10bn on it.

Overheal

Seaneh wrote: »

you do know they are building a very big fusion reactor in france right now?

We;ve had fusion power for a while, just not cold fusion.

The Fusion Reactor is nearing completion but the Preliminary testing won't be completed for a while, by my understanding.

Theres a US reactor doing the same thing.

http://dvice.com/archives/2009/04/fusion_power_re.php

Apparently it had its first test firing in June. I guess the results were nothing to write home about though.

amacachi wrote: »

Also aren't H bombs fusion reactions?

True, at the cost of a Fission reaction. And not really self-sustaining.

Basq

Pfft.. I think you'll find it's already been done!

Link

chin_grin

basquille wrote: »

Pfft.. I think you'll find it's already been done!

Link

It's already already been done......

Basq

chin_grin wrote: »

It's already already been done......

It's already already already been done!

OldGoat

I'm gonna invest all my savings in seawater and make a killing! Easy Street here I come.:cool:

TheZohanS

Seaneh wrote: »

We;ve had fusion power for a while, just not cold fusion.

I've been to Galway, if you have fusion it's certainly going to be of the cold variety.