Cold Fusion

Advances in Condensed Matter Nuclear Science

Jean-Paul Biberian

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780128159446
• eBook ISBN: 9780128159453
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Chemistry
• Index: Chemistry

Cold Fusion: Advances in Condensed Matter Nuclear Science provides a concise description of the existing technological approaches in cold fusion or low energy nuclear reaction engineering. It handles the chemistry, physics, materials, and various processes involved in cold fusion, and provides a critical analysis of obtained theoretical and experimental results. The book has a very international appeal with the editor from France and an international pool of chapter authors from academia and industry.This book is an indispensable resource for researchers in academia and industry connected with combustion processes and synthesis all over the world.- Systemizes the rapidly growing amount of information in cold fusion or low energy nuclear reaction technologies- Defines the scientific fundamentals for understanding of cold fusion engineering- Provides an overview of the history of the development of cold fusion engineering- Written by an international pool of chapter authors

Part 1

Electrochemistry

Chapter 1

Production of helium in cold fusion experiments

Melvin H. Miles College of Science and Technology, Dixie State University, St. George, UT, United States

Abstract

It is now known that cold fusion effects are produced mainly by certain palladium materials made under special conditions. Most palladium materials do not produce any excess heat, and no helium production is observed. The palladium used in our first 6 months of cold fusion experiments in 1989 at the China Lake Navy laboratory never produced any measurable cold fusion effects. Therefore, our first China Lake results were listed with CalTech, MIT, Harwell, and other groups reporting no excess heat effects in the DOE-ERAB report issued in November 1989. However, later research using special palladium made by Johnson-Matthey produced excess heat in every China Lake D₂O-LiOD electrolysis experiment. Further experiments showed a correlation of excess heat with helium-4 production. Two additional sets of experiments over several years at China Lake verified these measurements. This correlation of excess heat and helium-4 production has now been verified by cold fusion studies at several other laboratories. Theoretical calculations using a new equation show that the amounts of helium-4 appearing in the electrolysis gas stream are in the parts-per-billion (ppb) range. The experimental amounts of helium-4 in our experiments gave reasonable agreement with the theoretical amounts. The helium-4 detection limit of 1 ppm (1000 ppb) reported by CalTech and MIT was far too insensitive for such measurements. Unusually large excess powers leading to the boiling of the electrolyte would be required in electrochemical cold fusion experiments to even reach a detection limit of 1000 ppb helium-4 in the electrolysis gas stream.

Keywords

China Lake; Current; D₂O; Electrochemistry; Fusion Reaction; Heat; Helium-4; Palladium

Acknowledgments

Long-term support for my cold fusion research has been received from an anonymous fund at the Denver Foundation through the Dixie Foundation at Dixie State University. An adjunct faculty position at the University of Laverne and a Visiting Professor at Dixie State University are also acknowledged. Most of this research was funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

Introduction

Research on cold fusion at the China Lake Navy laboratory (Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, NAWCWD) began on the first weekend following the announcement on March 23, 1989 by Martin Fleischman and Stanley Pons. It was 6 months later (September 1989) before our group detected any sign of excess heat production. By then, research reports from CalTech, MIT, and Harwell had given cold fusion a triple whammy of rejection. Scientists often resorted to ridicule to discredit cold fusion, and some were even saying that Fleischmann and Pons had committed scientific fraud.

Most palladium (Pd) sources do not produce any cold fusion effects [1]. The Pd made by Johnson-Matthey (J-M) under special conditions specified by Fleischmann was not made available until later in 1989. I was likely one of the first recipients of this special Pd material when I received my purchase from Johnson-Matthey of a 6-mm-diameter Pd rod in September 1989. Our first reports of excess heat came from repeated use of the same two sections of this J-M palladium (J-M Pd) rod [1–3]. However, our final conclusions about our first excess heat results came late in 1989, thus China Lake was listed with CalTech, MIT, Harwell, and other groups reporting no excess heat effects in the November 1989 DOE-ERAB report [4].

These same two J-M Pd rods were later used in our first set of experiments (1990) showing helium-4 (He-4) production correlated with our excess heat (enthalpy) results [5–7]. Two later sets of experiments at China Lake using more accurate helium measurements, including the use of metal flasks for gas samples, confirmed our first set of measurements [8]. Following our initial research in 1990–91 on correlated heat and He-4 production, other cold fusion research groups reported evidence for He-4 production [9]. This report, however, will focus mainly on the research of the author at NAWCWD in China Lake, California, during the years 1990–95 [1, 8].

First set of heat and helium measurements (1990)

The proponents of cold fusion were being largely drowned out by cold fusion critics by 1990. In fact, the first International Cold Fusion Conference (ICCF-1) was held from March 28 to 31, 1990 in Salt Lake City, Utah. I found this to be a very unusual scientific conference with a mix of cold fusion proponents, many critics, and the press. Most presentations were followed by unscientific ridicule by critics in the question period with comments such as “All this sounds like something from Alice in Wonderland.” Two valid questions by critics, however, were: “Where are the neutrons?” and “Where is the Ash?” If the cold fusion reactions were the same as hot fusion reactions, as most critics erroneously thought, then the amounts of excess power being reported (0.1–5 W) would have produced a deadly number of neutrons (> 10¹⁰ n/s). Furthermore, if there were a fusion reaction in the palladium-deuterium (Pd-D) system, then there should appear a fusion product—sometimes incorrectly referred to as ash. S...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contributors
• Preface
• Part 1: Electrochemistry
• Part 2: Gas Phase
• Part 3: Transmutations
• Part 4: Models and Theories
• Index