NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/sci/physics/fusion/2709

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-17 | 5.1 KB

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From: [e-mail]
Newsgroups: sci.physics.fusion
Subject: RE:  Yamaguchi's experiments
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 16 Nov 92 22:24:29 GMT
Organization: Brigham Young University
Lines: 74

Thanks to Terry Bollinger for calling attention to the following "What's
News" from the American Physical Society:
4.  IS COLD FUSION PRACTICAL?  IT IS IF YOU OWNED STOCK IN NTT
prior to the Third International Cold Fusion Conference in Nagoya on
21 Oct.  Two scientists from Nippon Telephone and Telegraph held a press
conference to announce that they had detected excess heat and helium in
a reproducible cold fusion experiment.  NTT stock rose 11% on the news.
NTT is one of the biggest stock capitalization companies in the world.
The paper profits after the cold fusion announcement were nearly
$8 billion.
Whew!
A comment on the work of Yamaguchi (one of the NTT scientists) is in order.
The other NTT scientist referred to above may be his partner, T. Nishioka.
Their abstract from the Nagoya meeting states in part:  "The key factor of
this study is heterostructures fabricated by depositing thin film oxides and
Au on one and the other surface of Pd:D plate. ... We applied electric
current of 0.5-0.8 A/cm2 perpendicularly to the sample plate.  With 100%
reproducibility in obtaining the excess heat evolution, explosive gas release
and rapid plastic deformation, it has bee found that these phenomena result
from D (H) transport due to the temperature and strain gradients induced by the
current. "  In the abstract, the NTT scientists state that "excess heat
evolution" ... "was observed also by applying this method to Pd:H systems
... This is the first evidence for the fact that the excess heat production
is not necessarily caused by regular D-D reactions."
Unfortunately, these comments about heat produced by hydrogen-loading (not just
deuterium-loaded samples) and the conclusion that the xs heat is not
necessarily caused then by D-
D reactions was NOT made by Yamaguchi during his highly publicized talk
Saturday morning (10/24/92).  On the contrary, his vu-graphs pointed strongly
to nuclear xs heat a la Pons and Fleischmann, as I recall.
After his talk, Nate Hoffman of Rockwell asked if he had any glass in his
system.  Yamaguchi said "no."  His response is absolutely astounding:  Nate
later spoke to him and learned that there is considerable glass in the experi-
ment, a glass vessel with walls 5 cm thick.  I hope this matter is clarified,
because glass provides a reservoir for helium which can be extracted by
passing H2 or D2 gas over it.  This is precisely the artifactual evidence for
helium production from hydrogen gasses that initially confused Paneth in
experiments with Peters in the late 1920's:  "Paneth and Peters showed that
the liberation of helium from glass is dependent on the presence of hydrogen.
Glass tubes, which gave off no detectable helium when heated in vacuum or in
an oxygen atmosphere, yielded up absorbed helium in the quantities observed
when heated in an atmosphere of hydrogen.  Hence, they were in a position to
give an explanation of the occurrence of the observed very small quantities
of helium in their experiments as coming from absorbed helium in the glass,
without having to conclude the systhesis of helium from hydrogen."  (p. 13
of John Huizenga's book on cold fusion.)
(Frank Close also reviews this early history.  Those who do not learn history
are doomed to relive it?)
So the xs heat is also seen with hydrogen, and there is glass (we're checking
further but quite sure of this) in the experimental system.  Not much to
base investment in cold fusion on. . .

I reflect also on Nagoya conference chairman Ikegami's treatment of Douglas
Morrison after his talk.  Truthfully, I found Morrison's talk quite balanced
and enlightening, although I did not agree on all points.  After the talk,
a dozen people arose from the audience, clamoring to respond -- which is the
correct spirit of a scientific meeting surely.  But Ikegami took the microphone
and apologized for allowing Morrison to speak, adding something like "I have
never heard such an unscientific talk at a scientific meeting."  He refused to
allow further comment.  I was shocked and appalled by a Japanese making such
a remark, and ending what promised to be a stimulating discussion.  Frankly,
I was dumfounded.
You tell me:  what is going on in Japan?
I hasten to add that I have excellent colleagues in Japan for whom I have great
respect and with whom I have enjoyed collaborative efforts since 1985.
But in the cold-fusion arena, there is something fishy??  I cannot put my
finger on it quite...
The cold-fusion work of Pons is funded by a Japanese company, although I do not
say this is in any way connected to the above views.
And the demonstration of xs heat during the meeting was clearly faulty -- see
previous postings about the "Notoya demo" from the Univ. of Hokkaido.
What is going on?
--Steven E. Jones
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