Click here for Full Issue of EIR Volume 18, Number 31, August 16, 1991

�TIillFeature

Cold fusion is

a revolution • • In sCience

by Carol White

This author attended the Second Annual Cold Fusion Conference held in the beautiful alpine setting of Como, Italy from June 20 through July 4, on behalf of 21st Century Science and Technology magazine. Contrary to the deliberate disinformation campaign-led by theNew York Times, Nature magazine, and the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN)-which seeks to describe cold fusion as a dead issue, the conference established stunning confirmationthat cold fusion is indeed a nuclear phenomenon. My collaborators on coverage of the conference were Jonathan Tennenbaum, director of the Fusion Energy Forum in Germany, and Evanthia Frangou and Giuseppe Filipponi of the independent Ital­ ian-language science journal Ventunesimo Secolo. Itt was the consensus of this team that the discovery of cold fusion is the most important scientificevent of the latter half of this century. It is a unique experiment which calls into question all of existing quantum theory. For five days, 200scientists met to consider a wide range of results confirming the reality of that process known as cold fusion. Cold fusion pioneers Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons werethere to report on their newest, highly success­ ful experiments. For the firsttime, using a palladium.·silveralloy, they were able to guarantee the repeatability of their experiment. (See also, EIR' s interview with Dr. Fleischmann, April 19, p. 22.) Fusion scientists from major laboratories in Japan, Los Alamos in the United States, and Frascati in Italy reported on neutron findings. The presence of helium- 4 was reported on by a team from the Naval Weapons Center in China Lake, California, and incontrovertibleevidence of the production of tritium was reported by the director of the National Cold Fusion Institute in Utah, which is now, unfortunately, closed down for lack of funds-the result of a lying press campaign against the center. Unfortunately, Dr. M. Srinivasan of India was unable to attend to report on the extensive experimental program in his country. Present were working scientists from Japan, China, Italy, Russia, Romania, Hungary, Sweden,

36 Feature EIR August 16, 1991

© 1991 EIR News Service Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission strictly prohibited. A bank of coldfusion cells at Texas A&M. Initially, the electrochemistry group lookedfor neutrons and fo und nothing. When they sent samples of the electrolyte fo r a routine test with a liquid scintillation counter, to their amazement, two cells were producing as much as 1.6x106 counts per minute of tritium, which is about 1010 atoms of tritium produced per second. To check this anomalous result, the cells were sent to fo ur other labs, including Los Alamos National Laboratory, and all confirmed the presence of tritium. Nevertheless, the science mafia accused Texas A&M of "spiking" the cells.

Australia, Spain, and Gennany, as well as a good delegation .p.A. from the United States. nrn,rf"""nr of physics at California The atmosphere in Como was jubilant, although there State Polytechnic University in , compared the con- were many disputes---especially in the area of theory. This ference favorably to the one a year before. In a recent was a group of men and women who had been tested, not interview, he said: only by the demands of science, but by the necessity of "The cenference was a success, and certainly a standing up to the abuse of the leading controllers of science feather in the cap of the Italian nro,,,n"7f",r,, [Bressani, Prepara- in the United States and Great Britain-Df whom John Mad­ ta, et al.] and the rest of the . advisorycommittee. dox, the editor of Nature, acted as the leader of the pack. The general message conveyed the conference was that, Maddox's camp follower Douglas Morrison, of the European far from fading away, cold research appears here to high-energy physics laboratory CERN, attended the confer­ stay and is getting stronger. in contrast to the situation ence as a representative of the opposition, but his abrasive at the First Annual Conference, presence was easily overlooked in the environment, which ported failures to see the excess was happily preoccupied with advancing the frontier of scien­ vast majority of groups reporting tific knowledge. Pons-Fleischmann effect of The first cold fusion conference took place in Salt Lake "In addition, the replrO(lUC1�11Ity is much greater than City, Utah, on March 28-31, 1990, about a year after the before. To be sure, many of the who previously were original Fleischmann-Pons announcement. The results re­ unable to achieve the excess effect have now discon- ported were extremely encouraging. At this second confer­ tinued their efforts. ence, the evidence con finned that cold fusion is here to stay, "Any list of highlights of the �"""Ul1J; for me, would have real and important from any scientific point of view, and to include the following: ' results' achieved by Pons most probably of great technological value for the future. A and Fleischmann, in which large amounts of third conference is planned to be held in early autumn of next heat were generated in a few time in a palladium cath- year in Japan. Financial sponsorship for the Italy conference ode to boil off the electrolyte in calorimeter. There were came from the Electric Power and Research Institute of the 11 successive events achieved this type, so that reproduc- United States (which is also financing research in the U.S.), ibility is essentially 100%. , this effect, which ne- from the Japanese Technova, Inc., from a number of scien­ cessitates excess heat on the megajoule levels, tific research institutes in Italy, and from the commercial leaves no room for doubters."

EIR August 16, 1991 Feature 37 Bush also puts Soviet results and the finding of helium-4 carefully controlled through a body chemistryheavily depen­ high on his list of successes over the year. He is also justly dent upon catalytic effects. (Water, afterall , is thekey com­ enthusiastic about his own experiment, in which he achieved ponent in body tissue. Furthermore, diagnostic devices such high excess heat and a high percentage of excess power with as nuclear magnetic resonance imaging depend upon varia­ cathodes consisting of thin films of palladium electroplated tion in the "structure" of water in tissues-in particular on onto silver. the time of spin relaxation when a magnetic field is applied­ to determine the relative health of tissue. This spin effect is, Cold fusion's first two years in tum, dependent upon the potassium-sodium salt balance On March 23, 1989, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley in the tissue.) Pons announced to the world that they were able to achieve the fu sion of deuterium molecules at room temperature Experiments in Japan through a process of electrolysis. Their research had come The conference was openedby Dr. Hideo Ikegami, coor­ out of a decades-long study of the anomalous behavior of dinator of the Japanese cold fusion program. He reportedthe hydrogen diffu sion in palladium-which, in fact, is used wide range of experiments ongoing in Japan. While he doubts industrially forpurifying hydrogen. that excess heat results, of the sortreported by Fleischmann Indeed, before World War n, scientists had already spec­ and Pons, are themselves produced by nuclear events, he is ulated that the ability of palladium to concentrate hydrogen absolutely convinced that the array of nuclear products (i.e., might allow cold fu sion to take place. Palladium will concen­ charged particlesthat are emitted), such as protons, tritium trate the volume of gaseous hydrogen to a density 800 times and neutron emissions, at their expectedener gy, all establish greater than it is in the atmosphere. This phenomenon is yet definitively, the existence of "cold" fu sion. to be understood, but it was a natural step which Fleischmann Japanese scientists appear to pave great freedom to con­ and Pons took to substitute heavy water for light water. duct their experiments, a state of affairs sadly beginning to In their table-top laboratory experiment, conducted at disappear in the West-a discrepancy that was not lost on room temperature, they use one palladium and one platinum the audience. Over 100scientists 'are working on cold fusion electrode. The plasma that is formed as a result of this ap­ experiments in Japan, although some of these are doing so proaches the density of the plasma found in the core of stars, on their own time. They are organized into 20 groups, which where fu sion reactions occur continuously. span 40 universities and institutes. One decided advantage One hypothesis that has been generated by another team they have is that free materials aresupplied to them by Tanaka independently working on cold fusion effects, led by Steven Precious Metals Co., according to their individual specifica­ Jones from Brigham Young University, is that cold fusion tions. also occurs at the center of the Earth, where temperatures Ikegami represents the standpoint of many physicists in­ approach those at the photosphere of the Sun. Jones uses ternationally, who tend to evaluate cold fu sion results in electrodes and electrolytes that were designed to replicate terms of the parameters of thermonuclear fusion. Unlike the geological conditions rather than to generate heat (which he vast majority of physicists in the West-particularly those in does not report), so that his cold fusion experiments are the field of fusion-he is so persuaded that cold fu sion truly essentially different in character from those of Fleischmann exists, that he describes Fleischmann's idea of using the and Pons, although important in their own right. palladium lattice to concentrate deuterium to densities at Thermonuclear fusion, which takes place when a hydro­ which fusion becomes a possibility. at room temperatures, as gen bomb is detonated, occurs at temperatures of hundreds one idea in a million. of millions of degrees. Controlled thermonuclear fusion in Ikegami's point of view is completely at odds with the the laboratory-as with the tokamak at Princeton University vast majority of experimenters in the field who are primarily or the Joint European Torus-also occurs at these high tem­ electrochemists.They are convinced that there is no way that peratures, which are needed to compensate for the fact that the excess heat-particularly in the amounts achieved by the plasma fuel, deuterium and tritium, has an extremely low Fleischmann and Pons--could h;f.ve been produced chemi­ density, as compared to the compression within stars or in cally. Therefore they contend that this is a crucial experi­ the palladium cathode. In both room-temperature and high­ ment, which will lead to new theoretical breakthroughs in temperature fusion, the nucleus of a new element is created order to explain all of the anomalies which have surfaced, by the fusing of two existing nuclei: For example , with the especially the excess heat. fu sion of two deuterium nuclei (isotopes of hydrogen), a Several experiments which Ikegami reported upon were helium nucleus is formed. At the same time , energized parti­ extremely exciting. At NIT Basic Research Laboratories cles and large amounts of heat are released. in Tokyo, neutron bursts of 1 million neutrons have been Understanding how this cold fusion process occurs, may observed, in gas phase experiments which are 100% repro­ also give us a window on biological processes, where chemi­ ducible. cal reactions occur at room temperatures and heat flow is In order to simulate the potential structure in the electro-

38 Feature EIR August 16, 1991 lyre, a surface barrier is created in the palladium. Magne­ order to determine if there is backgroundradiation or unex­ sium-oxide is used to coat one side of a palladium plate that pected spurious radiation. The othbr two detectors are also is loaded with deuterium. The other face of the palladium electrically independent The neutrgold in order to prevent the lated, and could not-according tolIkegami-have originat­ deuterium fromescaping. After the palladium is loaded with ed from spurious sources. The detek:tors are adjusted in such deuterium, a vacuum is suddenly created in the chamber, a way as to pick up neutron burstS, which are rare events, causing high neutron bursts and an explosive release of the and will only show up as 10% above background if they are gas. The temperature at the plate rises to as high as 800°C, averaged over a long period of time. The effectiveness of the and the palladium plate is deformed. This experiment has detection system depends upon having the dwell time (the also been performed with hydrogen gas, at which time the collection time period) correctly �t, and geometric factors. heat release also occurs. However, there are no neutron There was a clear time coinciden

EIR August 16, 1991 Feature 39 erally known before. More to the point, the very fact that Then there is the geometry Qf the cell.They choose cells they were pressing on with their work despite a witchhunt with small diameters relative t� the length of the cell, and against them, conducted with equal vigor by the U.S. press they consider this to be key to! success in obtaining excess and such groups as the American Physical Society, was a heat (although experimenters i� Japan have found that the unifying factor, in a body of researchers who by-and-Iarge reverse is true with regard to n¢utron generation). Most re­ had sharp disagreements with each other. cently, Fleischmann and Pons qave used a palladium-silver Cold fusion is a new science, and there are many sharp alloy in order to increase the s41bility of the electrode, and disputes raging among scientists and theorists about what is they report virtually total repea41bility: positive results in 10 happening, why it is happening, and how to explain it on the out of 11 tests, with one ambig�ous result.Rumors circulat­ most fundamental level. There is also a definite competitive ing at the conference that the "ambiguity " occurred because spirit, as different groups vie to establish their own patents the experiment actually blew uP. appeared to be corroborated and glean a share of what limited funding is still available. by Fleischmann's comment abOlH the difficultyin developing Nonetheless, there is a common purpose among them-to calorimeters capable of withsta1lding higher heats, with the pursue the truthat whatever cost-a commitment not usually design constraints of his experiment.He pointed out that so profoundly in evidence at scientificgatherings. there was no question that they: got excess heat and a boil­ For myself, the meticulous detail necessary to achieve off, but that they could not estimatehow long the experiment positive results in this intricateexperiment was also extreme­ could have continued had the eltlctrolytenot boiled off. ly impressive. This came out not only in the presentation A crucial pointthat Pons raised was that the heat transfer by Pons, but was a theme repeated time and again by the in the experiment is highly nonijnear: It does not occur in a speakers-particularly the electrochernists.These experi­ quasi-steady state in the cell, an

40 Feature EIR August 16, 1991 You can certainly take platinum electrodes, crank up the (Considering the experience and reputation of both scientists, current, and just put in as much power as you need to boil the supposition that they are mruqng some gross blunder of out all of the D2O-Or H20 as well-and, to within a few the kind involved with misreadirt their instruments is not percent, you get pretty much a clean heat balance, as you really tenable. In any event, altho�gh such accusations have would expect just from joule heating and radiation from the been bandied about, no one has �ome up with a plausible circuit," had only an electrochemical reaction taken place. hypothesis of what sort of errorth ls might be.) The kind of energies which wp are seeing in the case of Independent corroboration the Fleischmann-Pons experiments is on the order of 600- At this point Pons turned the microphone over to Dr. 1,500% excess power, which traqslates into the production Wilford Hansen, a physicist fromUtah State University, who of excess energy on the level of 20 $legajoulesor equivalently had been commissioned by the Fusion Energy Council of the 6 kilowatt-hours of energy. Bor Y� � Liaw fromthe Univer­ State of Utah to conduct an independent study of unreleased sity of Hawaii, John Bockris fro ' Texas A&M, and Robert data of Pons and Fleischmann. Reflecting on the witchhunt Bush have also shown energy gai s of this magnitude. against cold fusion, which is continuing in the United States, The generation of excess he which Fleischmann and he began with the comment: "Last January I was asked to do Pons report appears to scale appro imately quadratically with an independent study, an analysis, of some unreleased data the current density, leading them �o prefer thin, 1 millimeter of Pons and Fleischmann. My colleagues warned me not to diameter cathodes. When the di�eter is increased to 8 mm, do this-it was a no-win situation. Whatever that might be, no excess power is generated. Furthermore, the currentmust I now have a report, and I have brought copies of that for exceed 100 milliamperes per squate centimeter if theexperi­ Pons and Fleischmann to read. It is also being reviewed by ment is to succeed. An increase in �verage excess heat gener­ some other people. I would like to tell you about it before ated correlated to an increase in iliecurrent. the world grabs it and bums it, and me with it. But soon it This key feature in theirexpe dment, which was in differ­ will be out." ent ways replicated by Bockris � Texas A&M, the Italian He then proceeded to verify the statistical methods used experimenter F. Celani and a teru,ttat Frascati, as well as in by the team to determine the production of "excess" heat­ Japan, was the responsiveness o� heat bursts to changes of as much as 100 times more than any which could be attributed state. Thus, they would ramp up �e current, and this corre­ to a known chemical reaction. He chose eight cells; two were lated with the heat gain; similarly Bockris applied pulses of controls, which used hydrogen and showed no excess heat. power; and Celani-in a gas-Ioadibgexperiment with a high­ The rest were intended to be heat cells and used deuterium temperature superconductor (yt1irium barium copper ox­ as an electrolyte. Of these, five of the six, in his words, ide )-was able to stimulate neutr�n emissions by alternating "showed definite excess heat." He determined that the whole the gas through a superconductin� and nonsuperconducting set of experiments was impressive: In one cell, 6,000electron phase. Similar techniques in othqr gas-loading experiments volts of power were generated per palladium atom-l ,000 using titanium targets involved rapid temperature changes or times beyond any effect known to chemistry. As a point the creation of sudden vacuums. For example, the NITgroup of comparison, with only five electron volts, a palladium in Japan achieved large neutron bursts when they lowered electrode will be heated to its boiling point and vaporize. gas pressure in the vicinity of the palladium. Fleischmann added to Pons's report by revealing that the There is an interesting difference between experiments team is now using a palladium-silver alloy for a cathode, and using electrolysis and those in which the deuterium is intro­ that this is giving them a repeatable experiment. What is key duced into a tube directly. In the case of electrolysis, there here seems to be the stabilization of the palladium, which is are more problems concerning the purity of the material, but, otherwise quite brittle. Robert T. Bush and R.D. Eagleton on the other hand, the ability to! control the voltage at the also reported success by plating a thin film of palladium onto electrodes allows the palladium lattice to be loaded in approx­ silver cathodes. imately an atomic ratio of one-to-one with the deuterium. Much of Pons's talk was devoted to showing how-from This loading ratio-or at least the achievement of a loading the accurate measurements over several-day periods-they ratio above 7.5-appears to be crucial in guaranteeing suc­ were entitled to extrapolate the profile of the heat balance for cess in the experiment. the total experiment. In the future, several scientists plan to The application of 120 millivolts of electrical power to measure net energy gain over the entire experiment. While a palladium electrode through electrolysis is equivalent to Pons did not report that they measured the total inflow and raising the partial pressure (in gasidynamic terms) to 100,000 outflow of energy of the four, five, or even up to eight weeks atmospheres. With a gas-loading experiment, the highest during which electrolysis takes place, nonetheless they can loading ratio (between deuterium and palladium) that is show such extremelyhigh energy gains during days in which achieved is in the range of 0.6 or 0.7, while with electrolysis energy bursts occur, that it is virtually impossible to explain it is possible to load the palladiclm electrode with an equal this, unless a nuclear process is assumed to be occurring. number of deuterium atoms. On the other hand, the electroly-

ElK August 16, 1991 Feature 41 rator K. Cedzynska' s experimental findingsof tritium in cells that replicated significant aspeds of the Fleischmann-Pons experiment. Will is also formerl* the president of the presti­ gious Electrochemical Society, ahd, like many of those pres­ ent, a highly respected electrochdmist. (See also EIR' s inter­ view with Dr. Will, April 19, p. 24.) Tritium is found on Earth dnly in trace amounts, and therefore these experimental resJlts are important confirma­ tion that fusion--or at the least, uclear reactions-are tak­ ing place in these cells at the �lladium cathode. Tritium is the heaviest isotope of hydro�en, with a nucleus which contains one proton and two neutrons; compare this with deuterium, which has one proton �nd one neutron, and hydro­ gen with just one proton. In ty¥cal� thermonuclear fusion between deuterium molecules, e· er tritium or the next high­ est element in the table of eleme ts, helium-3, which has a nucleus containing two protons d one neutron, are formed. However, a nuclear reaction prodhcing the amount of tritium found-according to existing thdory-<:an account for only one-millionth of the heat actually generated experimentally. Clearly, then, some other process ust be occurring,in order to account for the excess heat. For this reason, Dr. Will was rarticularly happy with the finding by the Naval Weapons Fenter of helium-4, even though these are yet to be confirmed. He believes that these will break the stalemate in which i� was otherwiseimpossible to refute critics who maintain thatlthere may be a mechanism of mechanical or chemical energy storage at work that is consistently being overlooked by experimenters, particularly those who report energy excess 1n the amount of 10-20%. I These critics speculate that a sma I error, for example a 10% Stanley Pons. left. and Martin Fleischmann. with their initial cold error in the calculation of the porer might be accumulated fu sion experiment. � over a period of a million secon to create the appearance of a small but significant energy cess. So far only Fleisch­ mann and Pons, the team at the University of Hawaii-in sis experiments have an upper limit to the temperature which two experiments which they have been unable to repeat­ they can achieve, which is determined by the boiling point and Robert Bush have reported a shfficientlyhigh heat excess of the water. This lowers the Carnotefficiency of the process to obviate such an error factor. I Many cold fusion researchers had predicted that this from the point of view of possible technical applications. I (The Carnot efficiency refers to the fact that heat "flows" might be the explanation for the otherwise anomalous results. from high to low temperature, so that the ability to use the The amount of helium-4 producetl is much more consistent heat to accomplish work is a function of the temperature with the excess heat. In fact, in dr. Will's opinion, the dis­ difference. The obvious model for this is the steam engine.) covery of helium-4, as reportedb� the NRL team (and by the Experimenters at the University of Hawaii overcame this Spring 1991 issue of 21st Centu1 Science & Technology), temperature limitation by conducting electrolysis with mol­ is the single most important development reported at the ten salts, but this is a highly corrosive process that presents conference. its own problems: While they reached an impressive tempera­ There is, of course, also the p

42 Feature EIR August 16, 1991 mode of trans mutating the elements. Dr.Will is modest, emphasizingwqat work is yet to bedone. Lastly, there is a possibility, which Dr. Will rejects out At Como, he emphasized that it is now necessary to develop of hand, that there is some unknown chemistry involved. techniques of on-line measurementiof the production of triti­ Dr. Will describes himself as a conservative scientist, um, as it occurs, which he was not able to do.Nonetheless, who is satisfiedthat there is goodexperimental data. Howev­ his work was not only an outstan

EIR August 16, 1991 Feature 43 Thence, the question arises about potential sources of mann-Pons electrolytic cell, this group succeeded in de­ systematic error which might occur because of the nature of tecting helium gas, using a mass.spectrometer. the calorimeter. He analyzed why such errors could account Miles's group had expected! to find helium-3; instead, for an erroron average of 10%, and of25% maximally, in any they were surprised to find helium-4. The finding, however, particular reading.These figures, however, are significantly was in accord with several the011ies: It is otherwise difficult below the percent of excess heat generated by his experi­ to account for both the small am<*Intsof neutrons andtritium ments. One method they use to check for error is to inter­ compared to heat generated in cold fusion experiments, and change resistors, which areused to measure heater and elec­ also for the fact that there is as much as a discrepancy of 10 trochemicalpower; thus, if the electrochemicalreading is too million between the amount of tritium discovered,and tothe high because of a mechanical error, switching the resistors amount of neutrons.This runs cdunter to the branching ratio should show a discrepancy between the reading of excess observed in thermonuclear fusion, where it is equally proba­ energy that is generated by electrochemical input power and ble for either helium-3 or tritiumto be produced. the heater power, before and afterthe change. They are convinced that what they are observing is a They are also careful not to underestimate the amount of surface reaction, because, among other things, the helium is mass change over time, since thiswould resultin an apparent detected in the gas above the electrolyte rather than mixed in excess amount of heat generation. Another key feature of with it. Unlike Fleischmann and Pons, they are successfully their design is that where they ran control cells (which was using a massive palladium electrode, which they struggled not in every experiment), they multiplexed them to a single to keep uniform. They feel this allowed them to get results multimeter: In other words, the two cells were placed in more quickly than Fleischmann and Pons-although it series in the same calorimeter. McKubre made the strong should be noted that they do not see comparable excess heat. assertion in this regard: "When we are running light experi­ Miles et al. believe that the nuclear reaction which is oc­ ments, experiments in series produce excess heat in one and curring is a surface effect, because the helium is found out­ not in the other. It is very hard to attributethat to an error in side the electrode.Excess heat generated was only about four the multimeter. An error in the multimeter should show up times what might have been expected from the amount of in all the cells that we are running." helium that was generated.This is an outstanding result. McKubre also emphasized that they needed to run a typi­ The experiment was carefully controlled. While the ex­ cal cell around 2,000 hours in order to have a successful periment was done at Naval Weapons Center in China Lake, experiment. On average, his team's experiments are getting California, measurements were made at the University of something like 250% excess energy, in terms of the electrical Texas: Lagowski, in Austin, never knew in advance what input, which is somewhat more than 45 megajoules permole. cells he was being sent, and his group was even deliberately Furthermore, they have never seen an energy deficit during given cells filled with nitrogen, to test their apparatus and an experiment.He raised the question: If the excess heat is make sure that they would repot!t a null result.In any cell theresult of a mechanical malfunction of the heat calibration, with excess heat at or above 0.14 watts, helium was detected; why would there not be an equal number of deficitsas energy in any cell with less than that mount, it was not detected. excesses? His team has never observed excess energy in Seven out of ten cells they worked on gave excess heat to a light-water experiments, although it is his estimation that maximum of about 30%. they have yet to do a sufficient number of these to establish Miles announced during his presentation that he hadjust the point definitively. received a facsimile transmission from his collaborator Ben His conclusion: "We are unable to account for the excess Bush; Bush reported that when he performed the experiment temperature by any artifact that we have considered, and we with a palladium cathode that hadlbeen blackened with palla­ are unable to account for it by any chemical or mechanical dium black, he achieved excess htat within abouttwo hours. processes that we areaware of." In thediscussion period, he This would be seen as confirmation that cold fusion is a also emphasized that he had achieved high repeatability.He surface effect by Robert Bush, John Bockris, and Miles­ asserted that this depended upon accurate controlof the initial although they were already convinced that thiswould be the conditions-state of the electrodes, loading ratio, and control case. Robert Bush reported that he platinizes his electrodes. of the current. Others at the conference, such as Will and McKubre dis­ agreed, and they contended that the best results come from Breaking the stalemate a palladium rod which is shiny rather than coated. Melvin Miles commanded attention when he described Robert Bush agreed with Bert Bush that the addition of the details of the experiment which he and G.C .Ostrom from palladium chloride to blacken the surface should cut down the Naval Weapons Center ran in collaboration with Ben loading times and work more efficiently than smooth, shiny Bush (no relation to Robert Bush) and J.J. Lagowski of the palladium, once an optimal loading ratio has been reached. Department of Chemistry at the University of Texas in Aus­ He believes he also has confirmation of predictions (ac­ tin. Using an apparatus very similar to the initial Fleisch- cording to his theoretical model) <>f the discovery by Franco

44 Feature EIR August 16, 1991 I Scaramuzzi of a neutron emission line at a temperature of there can also be locally high current densities, at voids on about 120°C. Robert Bush had predicted that such a line points where cracking occurs, where fusion may take place. would show up at 126°C. He had not been aware of Scara­ These spread as the reaction time advances. This means that muzzi's results before coming to the conference. there are probable locally high current densities. Bockris also hypothesizes that the dendritic and cauli­ Slander campaign flower-like formationswhich grow on thesurface of the elec­ John Bockris, of Texas A&M, has taught many of those trode may may also be the locus of cold fusion reactions. now most eminent in the field of electrochemistry, not the Dendrites were found to be about 2 microns high. In order least of them Martin Fleischmann. He has a worldwide repu­ to keep the reaction going after these formations emerge, tation, yet he has not remained untouched by the vicious it is necessary to step up the current. He believes that the climate against cold fusionbeing created in the United States. palladium is thickly encrusted with impurity metals, particu­ Journalist Gary Taubes has spread the slanderous story, in a larly platinum (which has migrated from the anode), which forthcoming book debunking cold fusion to be published by penetrate the palladium within a few weeks. Random House, that Bockris allowed one of his students to He described several experiments with heat bursts. Elec­ manually place tritium into a sample in order to pretend tric pulses of 5 seconds duration would trigger heat bursts, that cold fusion occurred. While Taubes has, of course, no apparently correlated with electrode charging. Some bursts credibility among anyone who is familiar with Bockris or his were also triggered when electrolysis was stopped, as the work, nonetheless, he is using the financial clout of a large liquid of the electrolyte was used up. Pulsing correlated to publishing house to try to force Bockris into a no-win situa­ heat burst in five experiments. The two highest actually ter­ tion, where he, an individual with relatively small resources, minated the burst before the electric pulse was stopped. will be pitted in court against Random House. These occurred between 110 and 350 hours of electrolysis, Nonetheless, Bockris is a fearless individual. He and and excess heat varied from around 8-23%. Martin Fleischmann, in my view, are outstanding in their Bockris's own cold fusion experiments have focused unwillingness to compromise on the question of cold fusion. upon the palladium-deuterium relationship; nonetheless, he Yes, the results were anomalous compared to thermonuclear pointed to the need to look at a number of transition metals, fusion, which they see as a challenge to theorists, rather than because, even though they do not concentrate deuterium or requiring them to defend the validity of the Fleischmann­ hydrogen to the same degree as palladium, nonetheless cold Pons experiment. fusion occurs within them at a lower rate. He is also extreme­ As opposed to the physics community, Bockris points to ly interested in a Japanese patent taken out last year, which the discrepancy between tritium and neutron detection as specifies a number of alloys of the superconducting genre, proof that the result-cold fusion-canrlot be evaluated in as possible mediums for cold fusion. terms of thermonuclear fusion, and that it therefore repre­ sents a new type of nuclear reaction. He also points out that Soviet and other national programs cold fusion has an advantage over thermonuclear fusion: It V.A. Tsarev from the Soviet Union reported that the does not produce the same amount of charged particles, witchhunt against cold fusion by Nature magazine put a which would make containment of the radiation necessary. "freeze" on what had looked like a promising cold fusion Since it is established thatthe excess heat is produced in these program, which originally had 45. institutes engaged in the experiments, far in excess of any known chemical reaction, work. Nature notwithstanding, Soviet researchers have ap­ then this must be a nuclear event, whatever the problems parently also developed another means of provoking the with detecting tritium or neutrons. emission of neutrons, by what they call "nuclear mechano­ Even though Fleischmann believes that excess heat is fusion." One such device involved the fracturing of ice made the key parameter for asserting that cold fusion takes place, from deuterium oxide. Similar experiments were done with nonetheless he did point to the need for more general access lithium oxide. There is presently some effort to bridge the to tools, such as mass spectrometers, so that helium-4 could two devices with a fracture model, in order to explain at least be detected more generally. some of the nuclear reactions which occur during cold fusion. Inhis presentation, Bockris presented evidence showing The Soviets are also pursuing theg�ophysical andastronomi­ a correlation between electrical pulsing and heat generation, cal implications of cold fusion reactions, even were these and he also showed pictures of the evolution of the palladium to occur only on the low levels reported by Steven Jones. electrode during electrolysis as part of a detailed study of the According to this view, the primordial Earth would have fugacity of deuterium as it penetrates the palladium elec­ been composed of about 60% hydrogen, and hydrogen would trode. "Fugacity" is a term used by chemists to describe have comprised 4.5% of the total mass of the planet. Other internal pressure. A major problem for experimenters, is elements would exist as hydrides, and therefore the number embrittlement at the palladium electrode, since cracking can of cold fusion events would be high. stop the reaction; however, he considers the possibility that Both the Republic of China on Taiwan and the People's

EIR August 16, 1991 Feature 45 indeed be of nuclear origin. So far the main justification for the nuclear origin of 'excess heat' had been the argu­ Srinivasan: 'A new ment that the magnitudes of both excess power (W/cm3) door has opened' and (MJ/mole) involved aresuc� thatit is orders of magni­ tude more than what can be e�plained on the basis of known chemical phenomena (�action enthalpies, phase It was a sad loss to the conference that Dr. M. Srinivasan change effects, stored energy release, etc). However the could not attend. In the April 25 issue of the Indian journal recent observation of significant quantities of He-4 in the Current Science, he published an open letter in which off gas stream of electrolytic cells generating excess pow­ he reviewed the prospects of cold fusion. No doubt his er, besides a marginal excess ofiHe-4 in one electrolyzed remarks at the conference in Como would have been along Pd button should perhaps begin to convince the scientific the same lines. Dr. Srinivasan, the head of the Neutron community that proof of exce�s heat being of nuclear Physics Division at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center origin is now on hand. Howevdr this information is not (BARC) in Bombay, unlike many physicists, fully en­ yet widely known. dorses the conclusions of Martin Fleischmann and others: "In the judgment of this re\liewer the infant field of that excess heat, as well as the presence of neutrons, 'cold fusion' is rapidly acquiring �e status of arespectable tritium, and helium, is of nuclear origin (see EIR, April new branch of science, and the nlysteriesbehind what this 19, page 25). His summary conclusions state the case: author and a growing number ofi'converts' firmly believe "While physicists findit easy to accept that D-D reac­ is one of the most fascinating scjientific breakthroughs of 20 23 tions at the 'Jones level' (10- to 1O- /s/d-pair/d-pair ) our times is slowly being unra�led. Indeed the humble can possibly occur in deuterated solids, there seems to be 'battery and bottle' experiment may well have unexpect­ still considerable reluctance on their part to accept the idea edly opened the doorto unchart¢d new realms of physics that the 'excess heat' generation in electrolytic cells could and nuclear technology. "

Republic on the mainland have ambitious cold fusion pro­ will be based upon gas-loading �vices; we may well find, as grams. They have favored gas-loading experiments, and in­ is emergingin high-temperature $perconductors, thatceramic terestingly, observe a bluish glow at the tip of the palladium alloys will replace palladium or 1jitanium. If it is true that the cathode, which may be a signal for helium. This occurredat deuteriumin the palladium latticets ina coherentstate , as many the SouthwesternInstitute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry theorists now suggest, then perhaps someday a cold fusion cell in China. According to Zing Zhong Li, who is from Tsinghua will produce lased light instead orheat. Another possibility is University in Beijing, they are seeing particleswith energies the undetectedexistence of slow neutrons, which could beused greater than 5 MeV and, in some cases, charge numbers immediatelyto breednuclear fuels. greater than 2. If it is borne out that there are emissions of There is, however, one exceptional experiment, which particles with charges greater than 2, this would weigh the would show immediate applica�ility were it repeatable. At balance heavily in favor of those theorists like Mayer and the University of Hawaii, Bor IYann Liaw and a team of Hagelstein, and Professor Yang of Hunan Normal Universi­ experimenters generated heats a. 350-400°C, using a molten ty, who believe that what is occurring is a neutron transfer, salt electrolytic cell. I not the fusion of two nuclei. Replacing heavy water, thet used lithium chloride and A laboratory in Romania had also achieved positive re­ potassium chloride salts in which a small amount of lithium sults in cold fusion experiments. deuteride was dissolved, to act as the main current carrier. The deuterium in this case was 4issociated at the anode (the What the fu ture may hold positiveelectrod e), to become a illegative ion. In this way, a It is certainly premature to speculate about technological reducing environment was crea�, in which the surface ox­ applications of cold fusion at this time. In general, the heat ides on the palladium wereremoved. This had the advantage which is generated in the experiments has still to go much of facilitating the deuterium re�ction. Liaw notes-as had above the boiling point of water, but neither the potentialities Bockris-that many transition e�ements and their alloys can nor the scientific implications of this discovery have yet un­ also absorb substantial amounts I of deuterium, but are pre­ folded. vented from doing so in water sCl)lutions, because they have While the electrolysis experiments are of great scientific an oxide surface layer. interest, it may well be that the most successful applications They achieved excess power levels as high as 25 watts

46 Feature EIR August 16, 1991 for an input power of 1.68 watts-a power gain of 1,500%. Mayer believe these impurities to pIfiy a crucial role, because Unfortunately, it has only succeeded on two occasions. How­ they act as neutron donors or acceptors; others believe that ever, positively, a control experiment based on lithium-hy­ the impurities enlarge the surface of the palladium electrode, dridedid not produce excess heat. and thereby foster cold fusion, Wlhich they believe to be Excess power increased with current density, and one entirely a surfaceeff ect. For those who believe it is a volume, heat burst lasted for four days, generating 5 megajoules of or only a near-surface effect, such plating of the surface energy. The experiment only stopped because the lithium­ prevents the circulation of the deuterium and would impede deuteride was exhausted. the reaction. In this case, the positive electrode (the anode) was made Once a crucial experiment, stich as the Fleischmann­ from palladium, and it was found after the experiment to Pons discovery, has challenged the ijasicassumptions held by contain 4x 1010 of helium-4. This impressive amount is far scientists, it is to be expected that !there will be a period of more than that present in a control sample of palladium; great turmoil, from which existing theories will be trans­ however, it is seven orders of magnitudeless thanthe amount formed to accord with the new understanding. This, of which would be expected on account of the heat generation. course, is how science progresses,iby means of the succes­ The amount of excess heat which was generated, calculated sion of hypotheses , each of which expresses more profoundly in watts per gram of fuel, compares favorably with light­ man's understanding of the universe. In the course of such a water reactors. Similarly, when this is calculated in terms shakeup, whole series of experim�nts are designed to test of watts per cm3 of fuel-600 watts per cm3 of fuel-the and refine competing hypotheses. comparison is still in favor of the molten-salt cell, that is, In the arena of fundamental theory, scientists also have four to one. In a review paper, BARC's M. Srinivasan com­ profound differences, many of which have already been re­ pares the potential of the molten-salt cell to the Canadian­ ported on in EIR, and will continu!! to be in the future . For designed Candu heavy-water nuclear power plant. the moment, the spotlight is rightly placed on the wealth of experimental data which is being assembled. In any event, Legitimate questions exist on the most fundamental level , no tqeory can succeed without The cold fusion debateis complicated by the fact that not firstfac ing the vicious assumption ipherited fromIsaac New­ all of the criticisms are coming from its enemies: There are ton, and incorporated into quantum theory: that theuniverse legitimate disagreements among scientists about what the functions on the basis of disorder, chance, and therefore process is, how it happens, how to optimize it, and so on. irrationality, which is most clearly �xpressed in the so-called In an interdisciplinary gathering like this was, one prob­ Second Law of Thermodynamics. I lem is that the electrochemists and the physicists do not al­ Dr. Heinz Gerischer of the MjiX Planck Institute, who ways understand each other's working assumptions. Thus, recently retired as director of the iFritz Haber Institute, is the physicists look for chargedparticles; look askance at heat perhaps the most eminent electroqhemist living today. He results and the chemists' assertion that excess heat generated was invited to speak as an unprejuqiced observer. In fact, as during experiments leaves no possibilityof a merely chemi­ he admitted in his address, he wasl invited as someone who cal reaction; and they are less impressed by neutron detec­ had accepted the mainstreamline that cold fusion was a dead tion. When it comes to theory there are practically as many letter. However, afterreviewing thq available material before theoriesas experimenters. the conference and then attending !:he sessions at Como, he No one still has any clear idea about about just what changed his view. He would repe�tedly resort to the image is happening in the experiment, even with regard to such of confirmed religious "believers" to describe some of the apparently simple questions as whether the action is oc­ conference participants; yet, turning his irony on himself, curring on the surface of the deuterium lattice, or just below when it came to cold fusion, he d�scribed himself, humor­ the surface, or is an effect involving the whole volume. Not ously, as an agnostic. However, h� echoed the "believers." only does this lacuna affect experimental techniques, but when he expressed the conviction �at the anomalies in the it also raises the question of how measurements are best ratio of charged particles to the pr<*luction of excess heat, is evaluated, as energy per cm2, or energy per cm3• in fact, evidence of the occurrencepf a new nuclear process. Of course, to some degree and in some manner, the reac­ Echoing the thoughts of many at the conference, he said: "If tion involves the total volume and near surface, as well as these quantities are correct, if a {evolution in the nuclear the surface itself. The deuterium first concentrates on the theory has to combine solid state tlteory with nuclear force, surface of the palladium, but then diffuses through the vol­ we have a fantastic, new discovery." ume. It also concentrates irregularlywithin the lattice, caus­ ing cracking which can impede the reaction, but perhaps Author's Note: The Fall 1991 issue bf21s t Century Science & creating points of concentration which allow cold fusion to Technology will have a report on the leomo conference which in­ take place. Researchers have intense disagreements about cludes pedagogical graphic material, (If help to the general reader the role of impurities in the experiment: Some theorists like in understanding more about the issue$ involved in coldfusion .

EIR August 16, 1991 Feature 47