Recent Review of cold fusion

[hjerald1]

This peer-reviewed article by Ed Storms is probably the most up-to-date scientific summary of the subject.
Probably worth reading by both proponents and non-believers.

"Status of Cold Fusion (2010)", Naturwissenschafften 97(10), 861-881 (2010)

For those who do not have access to the primary journal, a preprint is here:

http://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/StormsEstatusofcoa.pdf


Jerry

[Chris Bradley]

I cannot help myself from bristling when I read someone's claim that D+D->4He is a "plausible theory". Is it really a plausible reaction, with no gamma radiation in evidence coming from it?

[Richard Hull]

Storms is a cool and rational head. He is a retired ex-researcher from Los Alamos and has been in the CANR-LENR biz about as long as anyone. It is to be remembered that this is a synopsis and not a formal paper. Storms is pretty good at this sort of collection of bits and pieces into a simple review.

I have not had time to read it yet.

Richard Hull

[Chris Bradley]

I would concede that Storms may well be a rational head *in respect of other fusion energy researchers*, but it seems an odd bunch of folks that seek this dream. Newton himself could not resist a similar mass pursuit of his age, alchemy, and spent his dying days in isolation experimenting.

A book I am reading at the moment sums it up;

"The Undergrowth of Science (Delusion, Self-deception, and Human Frailty)", Gratzer
>"... the man who discovers how [fusion energy] is done would be adulated by generations to come as mankind's greatest benefactor. The rewards are ample and the prospects sufficient, as the cold-fusion aberration showed, to unhinge the keenest intellect."

Since the very first days of fusion this has been the case. It was Sir George Thomson who declared fusion power was only 20 years away, in 1958 [and unwittingly created the joke ...]. The mightiest of names have lent an excess of their passion and hope to the quest for fusion energy, and none who do so remain entirely objective about it. Anyone who passes those gates needs to know that their perceptions of things will become illusory.

FYI: I also came across a presentation from Storms; http://research.missouri.edu/vcr_seminar/Storms.ppt .

[Richard Hull]

If I only had a dollar for each pronouncement of fusion real soon now, hot or cold, I could retire tomorrow. The media tends to hype the hot as hot has the budget to employ mouthpieces. Cold has to sell itself by town crying and internet hype.

I have lived long enough to give up all hope. Just markin' time 'til the big sleep or some lucky donkey hits one outta' th' park.

Richard Hull