December
200911:30 pm
Sonofusion Might Rescue The Globe?
In making the below article, a number of academics/tutors/teachers were consulted.
The rush to find a better sustainable energy source is becoming increasingly important as terrifying projections on those remaining are made. Nuclear fusion has shown to produce sizeable energy outputs but only with methods requiring more energy than harvested.
The general concencus from the academics/tutors/teachers was that:
When claims to achieving nuclear fusion relatively readily from noise waves harsh scrutiny and criticism was inevitable. R.P.Taleyarkhan et al. published the original papers outlining exactly these results in 2002 that have since been dismissed by various scientists.
Taleyarkhan et al. claims to produce fusion using sonofusion, the phenomena sonoluminescence (SL) under certain conditions. SL is when high velocity ultra sonic waves are focused onto very small bubbles inside a liquid, the vibrations from the noise cause the bubble to collapse and give off a flash of light. The experiments done in involve creating sonoluminescence in deuterated acetone with lone bubbles, produced using a pulse of neutrons. These demonstrated more stable than tiny air bubbles already present in the liquid, which enabled high pressure and temperature conditions.
If D-D fusion occurs the outputs of tritium and neutrons should be equal and occur simultaneously with the production of light. However, one source accepts that the results from the experiments don?t agree with this, with a tritium neutron ratio of a maximum 10:1, and they reason this with:
1)?Neutron energy reduction by scattering in the test chamber?
2) ?Reduced detections efficiency for sizeable-angle knock-ons from 2.5MeV neutrons?
3) ?Possible irregularities in T concentration in the acetone?
M.J.Saltmarsh and D.Shapira repeated the experiment and said that these reasons would only make possible a 2:1 which doesn?t permit for the 10:1 ratio described in. They also interrogated the disagreement in timing of the light from SL and the neutrons perceived from the acclaimed sonofusion. Implying the neutron counts were not generated in the SL but were from background noise and mixed with the neutrons being used to form the bubbles.
In answer to this report Taleyarkhan et al. said didn?t account for experimental disagreements and that they had misused the data in their calculations. Taleyarkin et al. eventually reported an additional article in 2004 citing that the previous results had been repeated with the addition of neutron output on later cycles in the bubble implosions.
In 2005 the BBC joined in, asking S.Putterman to execute an independent experiment Puttermans results produced absolutely no correlation between the timing of the SL flashes and the neutron signals and so concluded against.
The legal side of this issue is also of huge interest, with Taleyarkhan being accused by Dr.Suslick for scientific misconduct in 2006. This was not further pursued when a new report of Taleyarkhans results being repeated by E.Forringer et al was produced later that year. However on September 10th 2007 it was declared further investigation was being reinitiated due to several issues including the repeated results being carried out in Taleyarkhan?s own labs.
The academics/tutors/teachers concluded that:
The intrigue over sonofusion can be uncovered with further experimentation and has the potential to revolutionise the modern world.
fts

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