In his garage in Pittsburgh, Frank Sanns - a banquet-hall owner - turns on his vacuum pump while wearing a dosimeter. Sanns is among about 100 amateurs who call themselves "fusioneers," who swap stories of where to buy power sources, vacuum chambers and deuterium gas (pic). They also pass along the results of their experiments in fusing hydrogen atoms. The process, if sustained, generates tremendous energy.
Apparently, achieving fusion with old science experiment equipment is easy, anyone can do it. The problem is how to capture the excess energy and start a selfsustained cycle. We have arrived to the point where quantum reactions and nuclear technology are subjects of high-school projects. The next nuclear Bill Gates must be thinking where to buy a usable vacuum centrifuge and which scrap metal contains rare metals and "depleted" uranium.
5 comments:
Is it not time to pour cold water on cold fusion?
Koko is not investing.
Anon.
Koko is right, as there are yet no investable projects in the area.
I know Koko well and her curiosity is boundless. She has a secret reserve to be invested in "curiosities".
She is, in general, now keeping her assets liquid. She tells me we are in for a little dip.
Anon.
The hobbyists are not engaging in cold fusion, but rather they are building fusors.
It's amazing what Philo T. Farnsworth was abe to accomplish in a tiny lab while large government funded efforts to achieve fusion have all failed.
The point is that a hobbyist with time on his hand can buy used or discarded scientific equipment and build working nuclear apparatii. Maybe not in Kabul, but certainly in a large American city.
Post a Comment