Cold fusion bibliography additions (total now = 373 papers on cnf)
Dieter Britz
I send you this mini-packet, having just finished translating the two Russians
and the Brazilian efforts. One of the Russians was a frustrating job, since it
quickly became clear that it was no more than an early wrap-up (the Zakharova
et al), as was the Davis, which I got from Todd Greene some time ago and have
not been able to obtain (cheaply); since this, too, is just a wrap-up, I won't
pursue it further. The Nordemann item goes into a little detail on one
possible artifact - i.e. radon contamination of the Pd electrodes - that could
be fooling 'em. Don't heat-treat your electrodes, or you might drive out the
accumulated radon, and you'll get no neutrons! Then again, you might; what is
the mobility of radon in Pd? Has anyone looked at Rn?
The Karpov was at least interesting, and may raise a few eyebrows, one way or
the other. They threw away their palladium (or maybe they couldn't afford any)
and used a simple chemical reaction, having first established the possible
necessary conditions for cold fusion. Just mix these two solutions, and stand
back and catch the neutrons. Amazing, and very easy to try out. Critics of
neutron detection will not be happy with the single detector used, and will
ask whether there was any temperature rise upon mixing... more exciting than
an epic from Koloc. The Matsunami job needs no comment.
There are two issues of Fusion Technology waiting for me to write about,
and one (August 1990) is entirely dedicated to cnf; so sometime soon, there
will be a maxi-packet from me.
Dieter
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COLD NUCLEAR FUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Additions 23-Nov. 1990
Dieter Britz alias br...@kemi.aau.dk
2. Published articles, letters
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Davis L; Aust. Phys. (Australia) 26 (1989) 219.
Cited in Phys. Abstr. 93:38727 (1990).
"Cold fusion: a learning curve?"
** "Discusses the recent research around the world on the cold fusion of
deuterium nuclei in palladium metal (no refs)".
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Nordemann DJR; Mineracao Metalurgia 53 (1989) 51 (in Portuguese).
"Cold fusion and geophysics: the current situation".
** A wrap-up of the cold fusion story at the time of writing, around the
middle of 1989, commenting on the FPH paper and that of Cribier+ only. The
usual interest and doubt is expressed, as well as an explanation of the
suspect fusion reactions. Nordemann goes further, however, and takes up a
suggestion of Cribier et al, that the neutrons may arise from collisions
between alpha particles and deuterium; the alphas could come from natural
heavy isotopes (U, Th, Rn) present in the palladium as impurities. Nordemann
looks at Rn, one of whose decay products is (214)Po, which decays to give off
an alpha particle with an energy of 7.68 MeV, sufficient to cause the reaction
D + (4)He --> H + n + (4)He; i.e. the alpha or (4)He is not itself changed.
Nordemann suggests that Pd may accumulate radon gas in sufficient quantity to
let this happen. Radon is ubiquitous, being a product of uranium decay, and
U is everywhere. The process could explain the erratic results obtained by
various researchers, and Nordemann ironically suggests that some workers, who
state that heat pretreatment of the palladium is to be avoided, do so in order
not to drive out the radon... He concludes, however, with the thought that
the subject is still important, and if a fusion reaction is indeed behind the
positive resutls, this could have implications not only for our energy future
but also for geophysical phenomena such as vulcanism, seismic activity and
continental origin. SE Jones would agree.
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Karpov SYu, Koval'chuk YuV, Myachin VE, Pogorel'skii YuV;
Pis'ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 16(5) (1990) 91 (in Russian).
"On the possibility of a mechanism of cold nuclear fusion".
** This paper examines a novel hypothesis. First, some theory, using simple
charge relationships and the Thomas-Fermi model, concludes with the
possibility that deuterium fusion tunnelling might be aided if deuterons are
able to penetrate the electron shells of heavy, preferably negatively charged,
atoms. Presumably palladium centres in the palladium deuteride spring to the
authors' minds. However, this hypothesis led to a suggestion of a very simple
experiment, involving no electrolysis or solid metal. Of a total of five
chemical reactions tried out, the following one was succesful: A 40% solution
of HBr (10-15 ml) in H2O was mixed with 20 ml of a saturated solution of KI
in D2O. Some KBr is precipitated out, and there is some exchange of H and D
from the species HBr, H2O and D2O. This commentator assumes that I- ions act
as the heavy anions, into whose electron shells the deuterons (D+ ions) are
supposed to penetrate and fuse. The authors monitored neutrons with a single
scintillation detector of fast and intermediate neutrons, couple with a
photomultiplier and shielded by a an ethylene moderator and a Cd jacket. 16
experiments were averaged, and the Fig. shows a marked increase in neutron
activity from the time of mixing the chemicals, lasting about 2000 s, at a
level of 9E-3 impulses/s, compared with a background of 5E-03. The authors
cite similar work (Soviet, in preprint) by other workers. Feb-90/Mar-90
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Matsunami N; Radiat. Effects Def. Solids 112 (1990) 181.
"Solid state effects on tunnelling probability for d+d nuclear fusion at
room temperature".
** Theoretical examination of the possible role of screening and effective
electron mass on tunnelling fusion in PdD. The paper builds on the works of
Siclen et al and Jackson. Neither screening nor effective electron mass are
likely to do the trick. However, if there is a mechanism to accelerate
deuterons to a few 100 eV, fusion might occur. The steep potential drop near
the electrode surface during electrolysis might impart such energies and thus
cold fusion is plausible. 29-May-89/?
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Zakharova VP, Kotel'nikov GA;
Atom. Tekh. za Rubez. 9 (1989) 28 (in Russian).
"To the question of cold nuclear fusion".
** A lengthy report of the cold fusion affair, evidently written at about the
end of April (this commentator cannot find a publication date), judging from
the reference list. The FPH work is described, along with the problems it
raises such as branching ratios. The authors note the rush to reproduce cold
fusion, all over the world but that unambiguous confirmation has not been
obtained.
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3. Comment, news
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Fox B; New Scientist 128(1742) (1990) 12 (10-Nov).
"Patents blow the lid on cold fusion".
** Having applied for a string (7) of patents on cold fusion in the USA,
Fleischmann and Pons have now also applied for an International patent
(application WO 90/10935), which reveals all. Interestingly, the Utah chemists
Walling and Simons (the "innocent chemists") have their names on the patent,
for their "theory" of what might be happening (i.e. the process, for some
unknown reason, leads to (4)He and gamma emission). Hawkins, the coauthor of
the seminal paper, who was inadvertently left out of the author list in that
paper, does not appear in the patent. Barry Fox states that the patent's
wording is vague throughout.
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Joyce C; New Scientist 128(1741) (1990) 17 (3-Nov).
"Cold fusion pioneer shuns the limelight".
** A report of the current situation, being that both Pons and Fleischmann are
in Europe (in Pons' case, it was not known exactly where), at the time of a
couple of meetings between the Cold Fusion Institute and the cold fusion
advisory committee, which is to assess the case for future funding of the
Institute. The absence of the two men from at least the first meeting (Pons
did eventually attend a second one) caused rumours to fly.
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Dieter Britz alias br...@kemi.aau.dk
Kemisk Institut, Aarhus Universitet, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
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