Table Top Fusion

The recent dramatic announcement at a press conference in Salt Lake City, that nuclear fusion had been achieved at room temperature, seems to have produced a state of hysteria that interfers with normal scientific communication.

Concerning the Utah experiments:

If one accepts that heat is generated and that neutrons appear in far too few numbers to account for that heat, one is led to consider reactions in which the two deuterons form Helium-4, rather than Helium-3 and a neutron. The experts dismiss this possibility by saying that a high-energy gamma ray must also be produced, and it is not observed. They are thinking of reactions in essentially empty space. This one takes place within an atomic lattice. A nearby Palladium nucleus might play the role of the gamma ray.

But, theoretical speculations aside, this line of thought suggests a crucial experiment, one that I have tried, without success, to bring to the attention of the appropriate people.

Would someone, with access to an apparatus producing heat and neutrons, please look at the evolved gases to see whether Helium-4 is present? Should it be--and mindful of the large energy released in this reaction--are there sufficient numbers to account for the heat generated?

According to your April 18 article (“Helium Find Gives Lift to Fusion Chemists,” Part I), Helium-4 has indeed been detected by University of Utah chemists.

Unfortunately, the news article described Helium-4 as “a rare form of helium.” It is, in fact, by far the predominant form.

JULIAN SCHWINGER

Professor Emeritus

UCLA Dept. of Physics