Cold fusion research continues in 2013

[ExpandMyMind]

There has been steady progress in the world of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR), better known as Cold Fusion, in the last few months. The main commercial players have been quiet -- although April is likely to be make-or-break for "Energy Catalyser" (E-Cat) inventor Andrea Rossi -- but the open-source Martin Fleishmann Memorial Project (MFMP) has made some big steps towards its goal of proving the reality of LENR to a skeptical world.

Bob Greenyer is one of the driving forces behind the MFMP. He's a successful entrepreneur, having run a diverse portfolio of businesses in the fields of pharmaceuticals, finance, advertising and education. But now he's in a business that costing him money rather than making it, and he loves it. Like the other MFMP team members, he has put in a lot of his own time and money because he believes in the cause.

While Rossi's Leonardo Corp and rivals Defkalion are working in close secrecy with the aim of making money, the MFMP has no interest in intellectual property, says Greenyer. It wants to share it with the world.

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The apparatus consists of a nanostructured nickel wire weighing 275 mg "loaded" with hydrogen. The wire produces roughly four watts extra of excess heat in addition to the fifteen watts supplied. This continues for many hours, showing that far more energy is produced than could be accounted for by a chemical reaction. The challenge is of course in the detail of the setup and ensuring that there is no possible source of error.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-03/30/rossi

[+DieChecker]

This has been going on for like 2 years now and it really feels like we're no closer to figuring out if this works or not.

Supposedly there have been many tests, but each time there is many unverified variables and so there is always many issues with the data collected.

The next few weeks will see some improved experimental approaches that will provide better figures and eradicate possible sources of error. An elaborate protocol will see live and inert wires tested side by side, with the same tests being carried out in multiple laboratories.

This at least sounds like they are trying to go forward. Rossi has been simply spinning his wheels and keeping secrets.

[Insanity]

Came across this recently.

Cold fusion reactor independently verified, has 10,000 times the energy density of gas

Against all probability, a device that purports to use cold fusion to generate vast amounts of power has been verified by a panel of independent scientists. The research paper, which hasn’t yet undergone peer review, seems to confirm both the existence of cold fusion, and its potency: The cold fusion device being tested has roughly 10,000 times the energy density and 1,000 times the power density of gasoline. Even allowing for a massively conservative margin of error, the scientists say that the cold fusion device they tested is 10 times more powerful than gasoline — which is currently the best fuel readily available to mankind.

http://www.extremete...-density-of-gas

[+DieChecker]

Ah yes, the E-Cat. I'm still not convinced that this is not some kind of Long Scam. I also tend to disagree that it MUST be a fusion reaction.... Simply based on the opinions of the inventors. The method of how the devices work is still secret.

As for what’s happening inside the cold fusion reactor, Andrea Rossi and his colleague Sergio Focardi have previously said their device works by infusing hydrogen into nickel, transmuting the nickel into copper and releasing a large amount of heat. While Rossi hasn’t provided much in the way of details — he’s a very secretive man, it seems — we can infer some knowledge from NASA’s own research into cold fusion.

Basically, hydrogen ions (single protons) are sucked into a nickel lattice; the nickel’s electrons are forced into the hydrogen to produce neutrons; the nickel nuclei absorb these neutrons; the neutrons are stripped of their electrons to become protons; and thus the nickel goes up in atomic number from 28 to 29, becoming copper.

So the hydrogen and nickel are FORCED together, but how they are forced together is never explained. They make is sound like a passive process, but how can the nickel be "forced into the hydrogen to produce neutrons", unless there is something else doing the forcing??

If Rossi and Focardi’s cold fusion technology turns out to be real — if the E-Cat really has 10,000 times the energy density and 1,000 times the power density of gasoline — then the world will change, very, very quickly. Stay tuned; we’ll let you know when — or if — the E-Cat passes peer review.

Except that the E-Cat has been in "Demonstration Testing" for like 3 years now. Patent was filed in 2009. When will the actual process be described? If it is as simply as they make it out to be, then we should have understood this device very well back in 2010.

http://en.wikipedia....nergy_Catalyzer

The guys who actually tested the E-Cat...

Peter Ekström, lecturer at the Department of Nuclear Physics at Lund University in Sweden, concluded in May 2011, "I am convinced that the whole story is one big scam, and that it will be revealed in less than one year."^[ He cites the unlikelihood of a chemical reaction being strong enough to overcome the Coulomb barrier, the lack of gamma rays, the lack of explanation for the origin of the extra energy, the lack of the expected radioactivity after fusing a proton with Ni, the unexplained occurrence of 11% iron in the spent fuel, the 10% copper in the spent fuel strangely having the same isotopic ratios as natural copper, and the lack of any unstable copper isotope in the spent fuel as if the reactor only produced stable isotopes. Kjell Aleklett, physics professor at Uppsala University, said the percentage of copper was too high for any known reaction of nickel, and the copper had the same isotopic ratio as natural copper. He also stated, "Known chemical reactions cannot explain the amount of energy measured. A nuclear reaction can explain the amount of energy, but the knowledge we have today says that this reaction cannot take place."

Theoretical astrophysicist Ethan Siegel and nuclear physicist Peter Thieberger argue that the claims for the E-Cat are incompatible with the fundamentals of nuclear physics. In particular, the Coulomb barrier for the claimed fusion reaction is so high that it is unsurpassable anywhere in the known universe, including the interior of stars. The reaction also would create gamma radiation that would penetrate the few inches of shielding apparently provided by the E-Cat, leading to acute radiation syndrome in persons involved in the demonstrations. Given numerous other scientific inconsistencies – such as the ratio of isotopes in the supposed copper "fusion product" being identical to that in natural copper – the authors argue that it is now time "for the e-Cat's proponents to provide the provable, testable, reproducible science that can answer these straightforward physics objections."

The report can be downloaded here....

http://arxiv.org/abs/1305.3913

Edited May 26, 2013 by DieChecker

[+DieChecker]

Supposedly there is about 130 million tons of nickel out in the world, with Australia and New Caldonia having almost 50% of that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel

So that would last a while.

[+DieChecker]

The report can be downloaded here....

http://arxiv.org/abs/1305.3913

From the link....

It was not possible to evaluate the weight of the internal steel cylinder or of the caps because the ECat HT was already running when the test began.

Why would they do that, unless they were trying to hide something? Why not show the scientists how it is started and then go ahead with the experiments?

The device subject to testing was powered by 360 W for a total of 96 hours, and produced in all 2034 W thermal. This value was reached by calculating the power transferred by the E-Cat HT to the environment by convection and power irradiated by the device.

The "powered by" value depends on many variables given by Rossi and that the tested device was identical to a "uncharged" display device. The "produced" value also depends on the device being the same as the display device. If it is heavier, or made of thicker material, or thinner materials, then the values will be off. And also depends on if there was anything added to the environment by Rossi. This was done in his lab space and with his gear after all. Hardly impartial testing....

[+DieChecker]

I've been watching this still to a degree. Sadly these people will just not give up that their technology is not being validated.

http://revolution-green.com/2013/07/02/rossi-and-9-lives-of-the-e-cat/#more-%27

The next question that should be asked is why has no one purchased any of these miracle devices? There are no buyers of the 1MW despite many potential investors and customers having visited and reviewed. The reason is simple. No one was ever allowed to conduct due diligence using accepted protocol and standards. No amount of proclaiming, conspiracy theories and finger pointing is going to bring this technology to fruition.

I feel sad for the academics involved. Their enthusiasm for being involved in a break through energy technology is expected but that is no excuse for dropping standards or not calling in the expertise required for determining the correct measurement protocols and performing the measurements. This is not uncommon in science where a researcher may focus on what they see to support their hypothesis as opposed to putting a blind eye to what what does not. Perhaps a background check on Rossi may have alerted them to proceed with caution.

Back in 2011, these guys were saying that it would be shown to work 100% by the end of the year, and here we are 2 years later and it still smells like a scam.

[Zaphod222]

I think CF is another pipe dream. But wouldn+t it be great if it actually turned out to work.

[+DieChecker]

I think CF is another pipe dream. But wouldn+t it be great if it actually turned out to work.

It would. From what I remember reading, at current world energy usage (electricity and heat, and whatnot), the projection is we have enough nickle on the Earth for like 100,000 years of energy production.