Fusion is what happens when two atoms combine. Fission is more
familiar: one atom (of uranium) splits up into two smaller
elements, with the conversion of a tiny amount of mass into a
huge amount of energy; but fusion is the opposite, though it releases
even more energy. What's emitted by the sun is
fusion energy, not fission; hydrogen atoms are combining to
produce helium plus radiation. The H-bomb uses a fission
explosion to create momentarily the super-high temperatures needed for
a fusion explosion, which then takes place with a far more
powerful bang. At vast taxpayer expense, government scientists
have been laboring
for decades to generate controllable fusion energy here on earth,
but have not succeeded yet. The problem has been the need for
those extraterrestrial temperatures. The reason for the interest is that if it can be done, all
worries about energy sources (oil, gas, coal, nuclear, bio, geo, hydro,
wind, wave, the lot) are over. Theoretically, fusion energy is
dirt cheap, its raw materials abundant. The repercussions would
be enormous, the whole game would change and civilization would
begin a new chapter. And if it can be done cold, ie at
or near room temperature instead of solar temperature, we can
take all that and square it. Fox
News has thrown some cold water on this cold fusion claim,
and noted that "Their credibility isn’t helped by the
fact that Rossi apparently has something of a rap sheet, which
allegedly includes illegally importing gold and tax fraud."
Anyone who trusts gold more than government paper, and who tries
to cheat the tax thieves, is a person of rare intelligence and courage -
so I certainly hope this Establishment medium is proven wrong. Cold fusion would really upset a large set of
powerful companies in energy, all of whom have close ties to
government and strong interests in keeping energy expensive; the
more so if this revolutionary technique were produced
independently of their own lavishly funded laboratories. I don't
know whether Focardi and Rossi can pull that off, but surely wish
them well.
11A031
The Fusion Game
by Jim Davies, 1/31/2011
Two of the treasures on my bookshelf are autographed works by
the late Eugene Mallove, whom I met on a few occasions while he
managed the magazine Infinite
Energy. Tragically, at age 55 he was senselessly murdered in Norwich, CT - and the government justice monopoly has still not
nailed his killer(s). Gene was an MIT graduate and a maverick,
for like many other scientists he was thrilled by the 1989
announcement by Pons and Fleischmann that they had discovered
"cold fusion" in their University of Utah laboratory, but unlike the
others he stayed with them after their initial results could not
be replicated. 
The search for cold fusion has
continued, in small underfunded laboratories and without notable
success, but last week from Italy came news of a breakthrough. It
may turn out to be another disappointment, for the theory behind
it has not been published for "peer review," which is a
no-no in academia; but physicists Focardi and Rossi demonstrated
their new device in a press conference reported
here. It was observed to produce about eight times more
energy than it used, thanks to the "burning" of hydrogen with a
nickel catalyst, and to produce no harmful radiation. The couple
promised a commercial version this Summer, but declined to take
time to publish papers explaining how it works. If in fact it
really does work, that's one neat way to keep potential
competition guessing, while tantalizing it by wearing symbolic
overcoats in their laboratory.
Had enough GOVERNMENT yet?
www.TheAnarchistAlternative.info
