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Tiny Bubbles Create Nuclear Fusion -- Maybe
Monday, March 4, 2002
(5:58 PM ET)
By Maggie Fox
Health and Science Correspondent
Reuters

Not again...
Image Credit: Amazon.com.

"But scientists will -- and should -- remain skeptical until the experiments are reproduced by others. Many, including the author, could not reproduce past claims made for table-top fusion devices," Becchetti added, referring to a now-discredited 1990 experiment that made headlines [and movies] when scientists said they had caused nuclear fusion in what amounted to a glass of water at room temperature.

WASHINGTON -- Reuters
Tiny bubbles imploding in a solution of acetone may have generated nuclear fusion, Russian and U.S. scientists said on Monday, in an experiment that, if confirmed, represents a giant advance in nuclear physics.

The experiment was run in a series of beakers that would take up only a corner of any tabletop, using what amounts to souped-up nail polish remover and sound waves.

Because the collapsing bubbles produced temperatures as hot as those found in the sun, the experiment does not mean that the long-sought goal of cold fusion has been achieved, scientists warned.

But if it can be replicated, it could mean an easy way to generate nuclear energy has been found -- one that mimics what the sun does and that would be many times safer than current nuclear fission methods used by modern-day power plants and makers of atomic bombs.

Nuclear fusion joins, or fuses, hydrogen atoms or other light atoms in a reaction that creates a third, heavier atom and creates energy as a byproduct. This is how the sun generates heat and light.

Bombs and nuclear plants use another process, nuclear fission, which is the splitting of an atom such as uranium to create a burst of energy.

Fusion is much more desirable as it can use the hydrogen found in water and it produces fewer radioactive waste products.
(More: Yahoo! News Source)
2002 © Reuters, Ltd.

Dan