Cold fusion, Why not? Options

[Abd]

I'll just start this with a whimper, not a bang. JzG, the big meanie, just removed Yet Another Link to lenr-canr.org from Cold fusion. Waaa! Teacher told him not to do that! I'm going to take my marbles home! Now that I'm banned, I get to whine all I want! It's kinda fun!

No discussion, he gave the same argument that was discussed to death at Martin Fleischmann (T-H-L-K-D), that was discussed to death at MediaWiki talk:Whitelist, and always, in the end, rejected.

Pure wikilawyering: there is zero legal risk to Wikipedia from linking to that paper, the web site claims permission for all that it hosts, and if there is a defect with a couple of pages, it's basically irrelevant. (Very different situation with newenergytimes.com, they host under a claim of fair use, which they can get away with as a nonprofit until the publisher squawks.) The specific paper he delinked was approved by Beetstra at the whitelist page, after all the objections had been raised about copyright.

Ban the cat, the place is overrun with mice. Kind of cute, aren't they?

Wikipedia, you traded Abd and WMC's bit for JzG and Hipocrite. Enjoy.

[Herschelkrustofsky]

FYI:

Deuteron Theory of Cold Fusion Proposed in Rome

Oct. 5 (LPAC)--A new theory of cold fusion is being proposed at an international conference currently underway in Rome, according to an advance report from radiochemist and materials expert Dr. Edmund Storms.

Dr. Storms believes that clusters of deuterons (the nuclei of the naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen) are able to penetrate the nucleus of palladium, transmuting it into a heavier element and releasing energy in the form of heat. The deuteron clusters, perhaps similar to Rydberg clusters, are charge-free configurations that are not repelled by the positive charge of the palladium nucleus. According to Storms' research, the reaction occurs not within the palladium crystal lattice, but in nano-particles of palladium mixed with other elements that form at the surface of the palladium cathode.

There is no unstable intermediate nucleus, and thus no radioactivity, released in the reaction. The absorption of deuterons produces an element of higher atomic number and mass, each deuteron releasing about 12 MeV of energy due to the mass defect.

According to Storms, who has been pursuing cold fusion since his retirement from Los Alamos National Laboratory in the early 1990s, his theory can explain all the known phenomena reported in cold fusion experiments to date. He believes it may also be the explanation for nuclear transmutation in biological systems first documented by Louis Kevran and subsequently pursued by researchers in Japan and Russia. Recently the Japanese have detected biological transmutation using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques that are more reliable than chemical analysis, Storms says. Russian researchers have shown transmutation by bacteria capable of reproducing in 100% heavy water (deuterium in place of the hydrogen).

Storms's idea also has implications for the theory of nucleosynthesis. According to prevailing theory, the heavy elements must be produced in a neutron star, such as is hypothesized to be associated with a supernova. However, a process of cold fusion by incorporation of deuteron clusters could account for the production of heavier elements from lighter ones, without the need for highly energetic systems which would likely be detrimental to life. Such a process might even be occurring within the Earth's crust. [1]

[Abd]

LaRouche Political Action Committee is the source, so this isn't exactly usable yet on Wikipedia! But I'll comment on the science.

FYI:

Deuteron Theory of Cold Fusion Proposed in Rome

Oct. 5 (LPAC)--A new theory of cold fusion is being proposed at an international conference currently underway in Rome, according to an advance report from radiochemist and materials expert Dr. Edmund Storms.

Dr. Storms believes that clusters of deuterons (the nuclei of the naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen) are able to penetrate the nucleus of palladium, transmuting it into a heavier element and releasing energy in the form of heat. The deuteron clusters, perhaps similar to Rydberg clusters, are charge-free configurations that are not repelled by the positive charge of the palladium nucleus. According to Storms' research, the reaction occurs not within the palladium crystal lattice, but in nano-particles of palladium mixed with other elements that form at the surface of the palladium cathode.

There are other current theories that involve Bose-Einstein condensates which function similarly. Takahashi's Tetrahedral Symmetric Condensate, formed from two deuterium molecules under lattice confinment, which must be at the surface, since deuterium in molecular form cannot penetrate far into the lattice, it dissociates, is postulated to do two things: form Be-8, which is unstable and immediate decays into two alpha particles at 23.8 MeV each, avoiding the conservation of momentum problem, the branching ratio, and the lack of gamma radiation, but still forming helium (i.e., alpha particles), but it is also expected that it would transmute palladium, because the BEC is capable of, as the article notes, approaching a palladium nucleus. If it can get there before it decays!

There is no unstable intermediate nucleus, and thus no radioactivity, released in the reaction. The absorption of deuterons produces an element of higher atomic number and mass, each deuteron releasing about 12 MeV of energy due to the mass defect.

This can't be the complete explanation, but there is, in fact, radioactivity; further, Storms himself has reviewed the literature in his Science of Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (World Scientific, 2007) and reports, from many studies, 25+/-5 MeV/He-4, which is consistent with a process that takes deuterium in and outputs helium (such as Takahashi's process would do, mostly).

According to Storms, who has been pursuing cold fusion since his retirement from Los Alamos National Laboratory in the early 1990s, his theory can explain all the known phenomena reported in cold fusion experiments to date. He believes it may also be the explanation for nuclear transmutation in biological systems first documented by Louis Kevran and subsequently pursued by researchers in Japan and Russia. Recently the Japanese have detected biological transmutation using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques that are more reliable than chemical analysis, Storms says. Russian researchers have shown transmutation by bacteria capable of reproducing in 100% heavy water (deuterium in place of the hydrogen).

This report may be a bit garbled, or not, because I'm certainly not aware of all the work. I do know the Russian work, it is Vyosotskii, and it's stunning. The bacteria are various, but they include the really cool deinococcus radiodurans, which is astonishingly resistant to radiation damage, and which does appear to produce Fe-57 from manganese, as shown by Mossbauer spectroscopy. Vyosotskii's report is credible, on the face, but unconfirmed, and, yes, the implications are great. Because Vyosotskii is covered in reliable secondary source, WP should cover the work, but, of course, noting it as unconfirmed. It's notable. Now, if the Japanese have confirmed Vyosotskii, this would be important news. But I'm a bit suspicious that the report has been garbled. I was unable to find any document released by Storms, but maybe it hasn't hit the web. The Rome conference, ICCF-15, also known as the 15th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science, just started today. The prepublished abstracts are hosted by ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy, and the Environment. Yes, Virginia, the Italian government supports cold fusion research. I was unable to find any reference in the abstracts to a new theory by Storms. Storms has generally said that no theory accounts for all the known phenomena. Cold fusion theory remains an entirely open question, with continued publication of theories, some of which approach explanatory power, but none of which have been confirmed sufficiently to see any wide acceptance.

Storms's idea also has implications for the theory of nucleosynthesis. According to prevailing theory, the heavy elements must be produced in a neutron star, such as is hypothesized to be associated with a supernova. However, a process of cold fusion by incorporation of deuteron clusters could account for the production of heavier elements from lighter ones, without the need for highly energetic systems which would likely be detrimental to life. Such a process might even be occurring within the Earth's crust. [1]

Speculation. Sure. I consider the phenomena to be adequately established to start to make it reasonable to speculate on this level. However, it is insufficiently characterized to have much confidence in any predictions. Turns out, folks, we have some things to study and learn. I'm going to be happy if I can manage to replicate -- and sell kits to replicate -- an experiment that has already been replicated by a half-dozen groups, maybe half of them amateur, if I can coax some alpha radiation from a place where it shouldn't be, by classical theory, and even a few stray neutrons, as have been reported. In my kitchen. I'll certainly let you folks know.