Cold Fusion

The detection of cold fusion reactions was made public on March 23, 1989, by Stanley Pons, professor of chemistry, and Martin Fleischmann, professor of electrochemistry, of the University of Utah at a press conference prior to publication of a rushed technical article. Historically, there had been earlier claims of cold fusion discoveries in the 1920s and 1930s, but none of these could be reliably demonstrated or replicated.

Cold fusion as envisioned by the Pons and Fleischmann experiments has been relegated to a level of pathological science, pseudoscience, or voodoo science, whereby belief and research in the topic are fraught with unsubstantiated evidence. The researchers' self-deceptions were caused and perpetuated by the initial meteoric media frenzy and subsequent professional pressures.

Cold fusion is a type of nuclear reaction that can occur at low temperatures, such as room temperature, yet generates high levels of energy, with more energy produced than consumed in the reaction. Currently, there is no unequivocal science that supports an operative cold fusion reaction. Cold fusion reactions seemingly violate laws of thermodynamics, which suggest that a physical closed system (such as a cold fusion reaction) cannot continue to generate energy without exhausting itself or reaching entropy. Cold fusion may be contrasted with “hot” fusion reactions, which occur well into the million-degree mark (the sun is an example of a fusion reaction, as is a hydrogen bomb explosion), and the more familiar nuclear fission reactions from which nuclear power is generated.

Why the drive and fascination for cold fusion reactions? The attractive features of these reactions are that the required fuels are easily obtainable or created, the byproducts are low on pollutants, and radioactive waste is short-lived. Therefore, to discover a viable cold fusion reaction would make the creation of energy extremely efficient, inexpensive, and resulting in few, if any, dangerous byproducts.