Star in the Jar

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On the other hand, scientists have produced tabletop fusion, for instance by zapping small clusters of atoms with high-powered lasers (SN: 3/27/99, p. 196: https://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc99/3_27_99/fob1.htm). However, he adds, mathematical models of the process suggest that much greater energy production may be possible. Of more immediate concern to him and his colleagues is the task of convincing other scientists that their evidence of fusion is sound. D. F. Gaitan, (1990) An experimental investigation of acoustic cavitation in gaseous liquids, Ph. D. thesis, Univ. of Mississippi; Gaitan, D. F. et al. (1992) Sonoluminescence and bubble dynamics for a single, stable, cavitation bubble, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91, 3166–3183. Several detractors have compared the new Science report to the infamous “cold fusion” announcement made in 1989 (SN: 4/1/89, p. 196). Two electrochemists claimed then to have sparked fusion at room temperature by passing electric current through a bath of water in which ordinary hydrogen is replaced by deuterium, a heavier isotope. However, neither the original pair nor anyone else could reproduce those findings, which have since largely been discredited as a case study of mistaken science (SN: 6/22/91, p. 392). In terms of the big-picture goal, Gates said that nuclear fusion reactors, if properly developed and deployed, would provide the planet with safe, clean and virtually inexhaustible energy.

Even if the experiments did yield fusion reactions, practical technology based on the phenomenon would be a long way off. However, many scientists have already pronounced the new findings dead wrong. If nothing else, [Justin Atkin] is persistent. How else do you explain a five-year quest to create sonoluminescence with simple tools? We applaud [Justin]’s determination to bring this project to a successful conclusion. It’s not unlike his dogged effort to make a cold plasma torch, or even his desktop radio telescope.Barber, B. P. and Putterman, S. J. (1991) Observation of synchronous picosecond sonoluminescence, Nature 352, 318–320; The measured pulse width is less than 50ps.

Bristling at comparisons to the cold-fusion drama, the Oak Ridge researchers say that their findings withstood extensive peer review before being published. The cold-fusion claim in 1989 was announced to reporters before being submitted for publication.

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A group of scientists claims to have found evidence of nuclear fusion in a vase-size flask of liquid. The researchers say they created tiny bubbles that seemed to have collapsed with enough violence to force atomic nuclei to fuse. BUBBLE MAGIC. In a flask of acetone bombarded by sound waves, a cloud of bubbles (arrow) briefly swells to the size of a pea before collapsing. Courtesy of Oak Ridge Natl. Lab., Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Russian Acad. Sci. THE BIG SQUASH. A neutron pulse (arrow) combines with a sound signal (blue) in a flask of acetone to generate the conditions for a bubble (brown) to form, grow, and then implode with great force. After Taleyarkhan et al./Science