Cold Fusion is possibly a form of
nuclear fusion so-called because it is said to occur at or near room
temperature, as compared to conventional
nuclear fusion, which requires a very hot (100 million degrees)
plasma. In
1989, [Stanley Pons]
? and [Martin Fleischmann]
? claimed that they observed cold fusion when they observed excess amounts of heat coming from a room temperature liquid
solution with special metal electrodes inserted into it. This claim was surrounded by a lot of media attention and excitement which brought the phrase cold fusion into popular consciousness. A few months after the initial cold fusion claims, the [Energy Research Advisory Board]
? (part of the [US Department of Energy]
?) formed a special panel to investigate cold fusion and the scientists in the panel found the evidence for cold fusion to be unconvincing.
[1]
The most common experiments involve a metal electrode (usually palladium or titanium) which has been specially treated so that it is saturated with deuterium and placed in an electrolytic heavy water solution. The experimenters saw extra heat coming from this system which was not readily explained by the electrolytic reaction itself. Some experiments also saw some fusion products (helium and tritium), but basically no neutrons coming from the experimental cells.
There are still a few people trying to do cold fusion. [2]
Robert L. Park (2000) gives a decent account of cold fusion and its history which represents the perspective of the mainstream scientific community.
References
Robert L. Park: Voodoo Science. The Road from Foolishness to Fraud. Oxford University Press, New York, 2000.
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