... physicists Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi of Italy's University of Bologna have unveiled their supposed massive breakthrough. They don't just claim to have figured out how to make a cold fusion reactor, the actually say that they have built one and already tested it, with lots of new reactors ready to ship within the next few months.
Before you get out your checkbook, let's examine what's going on here. The scientists claim that a reactor has been running a factory for the last two years, but nobody knows what they're talking about and the physicists did not elaborate on where or what this factory is.
They also don't have any theoretical foundation for their work. They say the reactor takes in nickel and hydrogen, and then it produces copper and tons of energy, all at room temperature. But they admit they don't know how any of that is going on, and there's a ton of theoretical work that says reactions don't work in the way the pair have described. It's not impossible for an empirical discovery to precede the theoretical understanding, but in this case it's an excellent reason to be very skeptical, if not outright dismissive.
The scientific community definitely wants nothing to do with their work, as Rossi and Focardi have had to create their own journal, the Journal of Nuclear Physics, just to get their scientific paper published. The European Patent Office has also pretty much rejected it out of hand, as a preliminary report explains:
"As the invention seems, at least at first, to offend against the generally accepted laws of physics and established theories, the disclosure should be detailed enough to prove to a skilled person conversant with mainstream science and technology that the invention is indeed feasible. … In the present case, the invention does not provide experimental evidence (nor any firm theoretical basis) which would enable the skilled person to assess the viability of the invention. The description is essentially based on general statement and speculations which are not apt to provide a clear and exhaustive technical teaching." ...
via No, Italian scientists have not discovered cold fusion.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
No, Italian scientists have not discovered cold fusion
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6 comments:
"...and there’s a ton of theoretical work that says reactions don’t work in the way the pair have described..."
Yeah - and of course a ton of theoretical work trumps any facts, such a measurements of electricity in and heat out that clearly show the thing does work.
Whoever wrote that article isn't very bright, to say the least.
Oh yes - here's a more serious report about this Italian discovery of a Nickel/Hydrogen catalytic reaction that produces heat while apparently fusing a few of the hydrogen atoms with Nickel to produce Copper.
http://pesn.com/2011/01/27/9501752_Italian_cold_fusion_saga_continues_with_new_papers_released/
further links in the article...
I'd say it's actually quite rare that a discovery come after theory. QM came about because of experiments that could not be explained yada yada. relativity is possibly one thing that game about after any consciously noted observations.
Possibly the issue is that PHd students don't actually do any philosophy most of the time and do do a lot of ivory tower work.
still there being a little to close to their chest if they want to be believed, but then maybe that's because of the rejection they have had and they just want to throw a sucker punch.
@Oliver - It seems they are keeping it close to their chest because they have a patent application pending. They promised that as soon as that is decided, they'll give full disclosure of the process and the materials involved.
maybe there just after a patent then, the patent will get written off later in the day if it's granted and isn't actually an invention just something general like a patent on God. If they've applied for a patent it may be worth while looking at the patent application if it doesn't have much more in it that a power device that produces more output that it has input made with a couple of materials listed.
Contrarily, Rossi and Focardi have shown that cold fusion does indeed work, although they cannot explain why. The Bologna experiment is consistent with QED induced radiation from nanoparticles in the powder. See http://www.prlog.org/11277508-qed-induced-cold-fusion-in-italy.html
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