The Discovery of the Cold Fusion Phenomenon
by Hideo Kozima.
Hideo Kozima's
remarkable book is the first textbook describing cold fusion
phenomena. With
its more than 400 references and 70 diagrams of experimental results, thorough
readers would have difficulty supporting the contention of university
physicists that no such phenomenon exists.
The author is careful to explain in the
introductory chapter how cold fusion is a term based on misunderstandings in
early work. Many of the phenomena do not involve fusion, but reactions with
neutrons and protons within the solid material in which most of the phenomena
occur.
The book consists of 18 chapters. Only 10
of them explain experimental work. An usually large
number of chapters, four in all, are about the author's theory and its detailed
numerical application to the varied phenomena of so-called cold fusion: the
neutrons, the tritium, the heat, and the gamma rays. (Incidentally, he does not
mention x-ray emission from electrodes, which have been reliably reported.)
Kozima's idea −and
ideas of this kind are at the cutting edge of present theories of cold
fusion-is connected with neutrons inside the solid lattice. His contention is
that there are trapped neutrons. They originate in the atmosphere by the
interaction of cosmic rays with nitrogen. They arrive on a solid lattice at
about 102 cm–2 sec–1, and thereafter they can
take part in a large number of nuclear reactions inside the solid. In the later
chapters, Kozima works out what would be the number of neutrons per cc to be
consistent with the results that he examines and comes to the conclusion that,
by and large, consistency is reached if the concentration of trapped neutrons
is between 108 and 1013 per cc.
The first four
chapters are introductory and rather light weight. They talk about the infamous
ERAB (Energy Research Advisory Board) Report in which the cold fusion researchers 1989 work was interrogated by a number of
scientists appointed by DOE (U.S. Dept. of Energy) in a style that would
suggest a prosecuting attorney's examination. They touch on the general idea of
catalysts and how enzymes react in the body (the appropriateness of some
sections here in Chapter 3 seems rather doubtful). Chapter 4 treats nuclear
fusion reactions in a classical sense. In Chapter 5, we begin to take off and
fly with a discussion of the rediscovery of the cold fusion phenomenon in
modern times.
The author
presents Fleischmann, Pons, and Hawkins (1989) as the discoverers. Nonetheless,
the book also makes clear-in later chapters-that several papers reported
nuclear reactions in solids before Fleischmann, Pons, and Hawkins. Most
remarkable of all, and something new to the reviewer,
Kozima quotes a recent book by Kushi (1994) in which
a U.S. Army report from the Material Technology Laboratories Report of 1978 is
described. This report concerns Energy Development from Elemental Transmutation
in Biological Systems. It is said to have validated the work done up to that
time as proving the transmutation in the cold and also the production of
nuclear energy. Other works carried out before that of
Fleischmann and Pons include a study at
National
Laboratories of Nuclear Reactions, conducted by passing high currents through
wires (producing neutrons), and the work of Borghi in
1943 in which neutrons were produced by a passage of high currents through a
klystron.
Chapter 6 has the essence of the
phenomenological descriptions for systems involving deuterium, and Chapter7
reports similar material for hydrogen-containing systems, although it is far
less in extent. In Chapter 8, the idea of thermal neutrons is considered in a
general manner. The summary of the experimental data is given in Chapter 9.
Then, in Chapter 10, facts in respect to
bio-transmutation are given, and Kozima implies that it is a general phenomenon
in nature. The ticklish subject of reproducibility is presented and discussed.
The facts here are clear. If an investigator tries to start a cold fusion
experiment on any given day, there is about one chance in five that he or she
would see a positive result. If one is willing to wait a few days and try
again, a successful experiment may be seen. At the same time, each of the results
discussed in this book has been repeated many times in many laboratories in
many countries. Therefore, the results are repeatable, but not reproducible in
the normal sense. Scientists will have to get used to looking at phenomena like
this.
Chapter 11 contains the main testing out
of the trapped neutron model. The author produces a non-controversial equation
for the rate at which the reaction of neutrons occurs but has an adjustable
parameter, that is, the concentration of neutrons in the solid.
As stated above, most of the phenomena
can be accounted for numerically if the concentration of neutrons in the solid
is between 108 – 1013 cc–1. It is difficult to
understand how the concentration of neutrons in a given solid would vary so
much. In fact, if one studies the table of all the results that have been
matched, the range to get a fit is much greater, more like 102 – 1013.
The author is not forthcoming in commenting on this range, he seems to have an
easy-going attitude toward acceptability.
By Chapter 12, the reader is immersed in
the trapped-neutron theory, and it is compared with various other theories
using discussions of the corresponding Mossbauer effect
and the role of the electrolyte.
Chapter 13 further develops seven other
theories and how they compete with the trapped-neutron theory; Chapters 14
through 18 are "postscript chapters." The book really ends after
Chapter 13. Chapter 14 is about the energy crisis and how cold fusion might
solve it. Chapter 15 is a general chapter about revolutions in paradigms.
Chapter 16 presents the views on the field of a number of Japanese scientists.
Chapter 17 is about symbols and units, and Chapter 18 is the reference list.
To call this a book about cold fusion is
perhaps too much. It is particularly oriented toward a presentation of the
author's theory. Thus, the typical examples of the reactions of trapped
neutrons with the constituents of the lattice are:
n
+ 63Li = 42He (2.1 MeV) + t (2.7 MeV),
t
(ε) + d
= 42He (3.5
MeV) + n (14.1 MeV) +ε,
n
(ε) + d
= n (ε') + d
(ε"),
d (ε) + d = 32He(0.82 MeV) + n (2.45 MeV) +ε.
The product
particles of these trigger reactions create higher energies than does the
thermal reaction and can induce successive nuclear reactions (i. e., breeding
reactions).
In a qualitative way, the trapped-neutron
theory explains a great deal. Once one is convinced that free neutrons are
inside the solid, one can see that several transmutation reactions might well
take place and produce energy. The major problem is providing convincing
evidence for the large number of trapped neutrons that the theory demands. It
is difficult to measure in an independent way, and the author uses it as an
adjustable parameter. Were Kozima able to establish agreement with the
experiment at, for example, 107-109 neutrons per cc, the
reader might be able to believe in the model and swallow the discrepancies in
the concentration of cold fusion present in palladium. Much greater ranges are
needed to obtain a fit, however, and one has to ask why. Is this the origin of
the famous irreproducibility? Could it be that various pieces of palladium have
had various trapping times for neutrons? It is difficult to see that neutrons
from the atmosphere, over the several years in which most of the pieces of
palladium have existed, could build up to the necessary values. Thus, 102
neutrons per cm–2 and sec–1 implies
the need for 104 years to buildup 1013 neutrons cc–1
(even if all were trapped).
Another issue that raises doubts about
the model is that Kozima always stresses the importance of LiOD (or LiOH)
electrolyte and the diffusion of lithium into the palladium. It is true that
lithium does this, as was shown by Oliver Murphy at Texas A&M
in 1990, but other works that have used sodium or hydrogen as cations in the electrolyte, and these have lead to cold
fusion too.
Other phenomena that the trapped-neutron
theory would seem difficult to accommodate are those observed by Chien at Texas
A&M in 1992. He found that whenever he added fresh
D2O to, LiOH, the production of tritium stopped and then started again
spontaneously after some hours. Correspondingly, it is not easy to see why the
potential of the electrode alters the rate at which tritium is produced on the
neutron theory. Finally, the impact method of provoking nuclear change-little
known but now verified-does not have an obvious interpretation in terms of
neutrons.
Nevertheless, one feels that Dr. Kozima
has provided a useful text by placing his attention on neutrons. The details
need further working out-particularly the origin of the neutrons and the
concentration that he has to assume but his work clearly strengthens the
neutron case.
It is increasingly necessary to consider
the sociology of this new phenomenon, which has been lurking in the literature
for more than 50 years but came to prominence in the 1990s. There are now more
than 2,000 positive papers in the literature written after 1990. It is
scandalous that one still has to go to specialist journals to obtain acceptance
for publication (i.e., the "establishment journals" of physics and
chemistry still refuse to publish cold fusion papers, and the
This is a historically important fact
because it indicates a frozen physics. New phenomena may not be accepted if
they disagree with the present paradigm. Thus, the importance of Dr. Kozima's
book goes beyond his providing a compendium of cold fusion facts with an
interesting attempt at interpretation.
It should act as a
clanging bell to scientists in general that something is wrong with textbook
perceptions in nuclear physics-and perhaps with the lack of perception by
physicists that there is always a next step.
John
OW. Bockris
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