BBC, More proof of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions LENR

[Giga2]

aka Cold Fusion:

Students and enthusiasts attending a recording for BBC Radio 4 have probably
seen a new state of matter only recently discovered, an expert says.

The state of matter is a plasma (ionised gas) like those in nuclear fusion
tests, but at higher densities.

And far from needing hundred-million-pound apparatus, the conditions can be
achieved in a simple glass tube containing a routine liquid.

The professor behind the demonstration says it can be achieved for a mere
£10.

The audience were attending a demonstration lecture by chemist Professor
Andrea Sella being recorded at University College London for Spooklights on
Radio 4.

During the lecture, Professor Sella demonstrated a phenomenon called
sonoluminescence - flashes of light created by collapsing bubbles in a
fluid. The flashes are extraordinarily faint, but in the darkened
auditorium, those attending could see the evanescent sparks quite clearly.

As the name suggests, sonoluminescence is traditionally created by intense
sound waves - rapid pressure oscillations - focused into a liquid. In the
low-pressure regions of the sound waves, fluid is ripped apart to create
tiny bubbles, the source of the light.

Professor Sella's demonstration is far simpler, involving a simple sealed
glass tube part filled with phosphoric acid and traces of the inert gas
xenon. Then all that's needed is a gentle shaking of the tube. As the acid
hits the tube's bottom, there's a distinct metallic clink, as if a heavy
ball bearing is striking the glass wall.

Hotter than the Sun
In fact, it's just a water-hammer effect, an impact that shatters the liquid
column, creating a trail of bubbles that are clearly visible in daylight.

With the lights off, what's seen is a trail of blue sparks - the
sonoluminescence.

"When the bubbles collapse," Professor Sella explains, "they generate
incredibly high temperatures - 10 thousand degrees. That's twice the
temperature of the surface of the Sun."

Seeking more information on what goes on inside that bubble, Professor Sella
contacted a world authority on the effect, physicist Seth Putterman of the
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). And he learned far more than
he bargained for.

Professor Putterman has also long been trying to understand the precise
source of the light. Judging from its intensity and characteristics, the
light demands a source containing billions upon billions of free electrons.

But although ten thousand degrees sounds extreme by human experience, it's
nowhere near enough to strip the electrons from the molecules and atoms in
the sonoluminescence.

Dense plasma
What Professor Putterman realised earlier this year is that under these
peculiar circumstances a kind of electrical cascade can take place. If a few
electrons escape the embrace of their home atoms, their field makes it
easier for further electrons to escape, and so on until the entire bubble
interior has become ionised.

"Not only is it creating a plasma," Professor Putterman explains, "we
believe it's an new state of matter because it's an extremely dense plasma -
the density is hundreds to ten thousand times the density they achieve
inside nuclear fusion experiments."

According to Professor Putterman's experiments, the plasma goes through a
phase transition - analogous the melting of ice to water. Which is why he
feels justified in describing the plasma as an entirely new state.

He also confirmed that the conditions in Andrea Sella's "plink tube"
demonstration are precisely those needed to create this new state.

Not that that means nuclear fusion is occurring inside the tubes. Claims of
nuclear fusion inside fluid bubbles have been extremely controversial.

Professor Putterman is emphatic: "We have not yet succeeded - no-one has yet
succeeded - in generating nuclear fusion inside these bubbles. However,
we're looking around for that trick that could boost our parameters by a
factor of 10, to get it to the region of fusion."

Professor Sella, meanwhile, is delighted that his simple demonstration
should reveal to onlookers a state of matter that has only just been
discovered.

"I can't wait to tell my nuclear physicist friends, that for a cost of
around £10, I'm up in the region that they do for the cost of hundreds of
millions of pounds. It's very exciting."



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15876145

--

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts" Richard Feynman

"What's it gotta do with cloud feedbacks?" Giga2

[Marvin the Martian]

Yeah.

This has been shown at other institutions.

This IEEE article is 6 years old, for example.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/nuclear/bubble-power

This is not technically cold fusion; it is a new way to produce hot
fusion. It is a LENR, however.

Cold fusion takes place in a solid metal hydride.

[Giga2]

"Marvin the Martian" <mar...@ontomars.org> wrote in message
news:3YCdnfwoccdKAVLT...@giganews.com...

> Yeah.
>
> This has been shown at other institutions.
>
> This IEEE article is 6 years old, for example.
>
> http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/nuclear/bubble-power
>
> This is not technically cold fusion; it is a new way to produce hot
> fusion. It is a LENR, however.
>
> Cold fusion takes place in a solid metal hydride.
>

Thanks, have you heard anything about the Rossi reactor recently? I think it
was supposed to be installed somewhere by now!