There are legitmate questions about alternative explanations and experimental error in these cold fusion reports. The proponents of cold fusion say that the energy levels measured on the output side are just too high to be explained as some sort of chemical reaction like like splitting H20 or recombination of H and O in the cell after splitting. Also, they go to great pains to avoid experimental errors and account for any potential for errors in their data analysis (that's not to say there aren't any, but they are doing their best to avoid them).
You are correct that a fusion reaction also releases nuclear byproducts as well as heat. Many cold fusion experiments report Helium-4 and/or Tritium ashes being detected during the experiments. I will ask these Colorado resesearhers if they detected Helium-4 and/or Tritium ashes.
What is needed for cold fusion to move beyond this controversy is a fully reproducible experiment that any researcher with the proper equipment and training can reproduce on demand. This report I posted was just such an effort. This group of three scientists who conducted the cold fusion experiments in Colorado jlnlabs.imars.com were following the protocols of a French group jlnlabs.imars.com. And that French group was following the protocols of a Japanese scientist, T. Mizuno (Hokkaido University, Japan), who reported excess heat from a cold fusion experiment in the mid 1990s. Others are going to try to replicate the Colorado experiment within the next month or two. So, we are starting to see a reproducible cold fusion experiment emerge. Of course, the questions of alternative explanations and errors will have to be settled before it can be declared once and for all "cold fusion".
BTW, this form of cold fusion is the type that was originally announced in March, 1989 at the Univ. of Utah. This should not be confused with the much more recent controversy at Perdue Univ. involving a researcher claiming fusion in sound induced bubbles, known as sono or bubble fusion. The media has confused the two controversies by calling sono or bubble fusion "cold fusion", which it is not.
Anyone interested in learning more about cold fusion, see this excellent wiki page: en.wikipedia.org |
