03-04-2004, 11:39 PM
http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS....0304082201
Indian American Confirms Breakthrough Fusion Experiment
Francis C. Assisi
Boston, March 3 -- A team of researchers led by Indian American physicist Rusi Taleyarkhan announced March 2 that they have new evidence in support of earlier findings that sound waves can be used in nuclear fusion reactions.
Taleyarkhan, an IIT (Chennai) alumni, came to the United States in 1977, earning a master's degrees in nuclear engineering and business administration and later a doctorate in nuclear engineering, also from Rensselaer. He is the developer of the stun gun or variable velocity projectile, which is being tested by the US military.
The present research, a follow-up to a controversial report published two years ago, describes "statistically significant neutron and gamma ray emissions" after sound waves and pulsed neutrons hit a chilled liquid acetone tank spiked with deuterium fuel.
When Taleyarkhan and his team of researchers made the same claim in an article in the journal Science two years ago, many scientists reacted with skepticism, even ridicule. But new experiments, using better detectors, offer more convincing data that the phenomenon is real.
"We've addressed all the issues and now they all speak for themselves with far greater intensity than they did before," said Taleyarkhan, who conducted the experiments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and is a professor of nuclear engineering at Purdue.
"A fair amount of very substantial new work was conducted, " Taleyarkhan said. "And also, this time around I made a conscious decision to involve as many individuals as possible - top scientists and physicists from around the world and experts in neutron science - to come to the lab and review our procedures and findings before we even submitted the manuscript to a journal for its own independent peer review."
See also:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994741
Article from 2002.
Indian scientist claims holy grail of physics
By CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA
© 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.
Excerpts from report in Times of India ... full article available at: http://www1.timesofindia.com/Articleshow...id=2888304
WASHINGTON: An Indian-American scientist with the IIT imprimatur has, along with several American colleagues, caused a stir in the world scientific community by claiming to have achieved nuclear fusion in a small table top experiment. If it is proved right and authenticated by peers, such a fusion â the same principle that fuels the sun â could be the source of cheap, clean and limitless energy, and could change the world.
Scientists have worked for decades in this direction and the possibility that a team might have cracked the problem is considered so remote that the announcement, to be reported in the journal Science later this week, has been greeted with scepticism in the academic community. Leading the research team making a stab at what is considered the holy grail in the world of physics is Rusi Taleyarkhan, a senior scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and Richard Lahey, a professor of engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.
Taleyarkhan earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, and came to the United States in 1977, earning a master's degrees in nuclear engineering and business administration and later a doctorate in nuclear engineering, also from Rensselaer. He considers Dr Lahey, who is also close to India and has consulted with the Indian nuclear establishment, his mentor.
...
"Of course Mother Nature does throw googlies at us, but we believe it can be scaled and are optimistically cautious," Dr Taleyarkhan told this correspondent in an interview Tuesday from his lab in Oakridge. "Such a process also has applications other than mass energy production, such as food radiation and chemical synthesis."
The journal Science itself was non-committal. "In this instance, we see no good reason for suppressing the paper, and even less for attempts to discredit in advance. The premature critics of the result, and those who believe in it, would both do well to cool it, and wait for the scientific process to do its work," it said in an editorial comment.
Dr Taleyarkhanâs has impressive scientific pedigree and credentials. He has been the group leader and program manager in the Engineering and Technology Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. One of his more remarkable inventions is a rifle that can be adjusted so its user fires bullets at varying speeds. The US government has shown great interest in the project because such a non-lethal weapon can be used effectively for peace-keeping, riot-control, and school security.
Son of a prominent Parsi clan of Mumbai, Dr Taleyarkhanâs larger family includes luminaries such as the late Bobby Talyarekhan, the famous radio broadcaster, and Homi Taleyarkhan, a former diplomat. He is married to Navaz Rusi and they have three children, Pervin, Manaz and Meher.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Possible Nuclear Fusion in Experiment
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
© 2002 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Excerpts from report ... full text available from AP.
March 5, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A phenomenon that may be nuclear fusion was created in a laboratory bottle by researchers who zapped tiny dissolved bubbles with sound waves, which triggered a flash of light and a brief surge of superhigh temperatures.
Using a device described as the size of three stacked coffee cups, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute say the phenomenon was like nuclear fusion in a bottle. Some scientists disputed the claim. The study appears this week in the journal Science and was released for publication by the journal on Monday. Researchers at Oak Ridge said the experiment, which they called "bubble fusion," created two signs of nuclear fusion: a burst of subatomic particles called neutrons and the production of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen.
In an unusual additional review, however, two other Oak Ridge researchers said the experiment's results were not accurate. This additional report was posted on the Internet by Science, along with a response by the original authors.
Harnessing nuclear fusion, the power that lights the sun, has long been a goal of researchers who view it as the ultimate energy source. Most researchers have concentrated on huge machines that mimic the sun by compressing hydrogen plasma and heating it to millions of degrees to force atoms to fuse. This reaction gives off heat and an isotope of helium, along with some subatomic particles.
In the experiment reported in Science, researchers used the simple equipment to create and analyze a brief flash and burst of heat that may be fusion. R. P. Taleyarkhan of Oak Ridge, the first author of the study, said in Science that the experiment is true "tabletop physics," using an apparatus "the size of three coffee cups stacked on top of the other." Richard Lahey Jr., a Rensselaer professor and a co-author of the study, said in a statement it was not clear whether the technique could be used as an energy source.
In the study, researchers used a beaker of a chemical called deuterated acetone. Normal acetone is a colorless, volatile liquid often used as a paint remover or chemical solvent. In deuterated acetone, the chemical's normal hydrogen atoms have been replaced with deuterium, a hydrogen isotope that is heavier than ordinary hydrogen and is capable of fusion reactions. When combined with oxygen, deuterium is sometimes called "heavy water."
The researchers introduced tiny bubbles, no bigger than the period at the end of a sentence, into the beaker. They then zapped the bubbles with sound waves. The bubbles rapidly expanded and then collapsed. It's believed that the bubble collapse causes a momentary shock wave that creates high pressures, high temperatures and a flash of light, called sonoluminescence.
...
The announcement of the Taleyarkhan tabletop fusion experiment is in sharp contrast to one that University of Utah researchers announced at a news conference in 1989. Unlike the Utah experiment, which was rejected by many other physicists, Taleyarkhan's experiment was reviewed by a committee of experts, selected by Science, before the study was accepted for publication.
On the Net: Science: http://www.sciencemag.org
Indian American Confirms Breakthrough Fusion Experiment
Francis C. Assisi
Boston, March 3 -- A team of researchers led by Indian American physicist Rusi Taleyarkhan announced March 2 that they have new evidence in support of earlier findings that sound waves can be used in nuclear fusion reactions.
Taleyarkhan, an IIT (Chennai) alumni, came to the United States in 1977, earning a master's degrees in nuclear engineering and business administration and later a doctorate in nuclear engineering, also from Rensselaer. He is the developer of the stun gun or variable velocity projectile, which is being tested by the US military.
The present research, a follow-up to a controversial report published two years ago, describes "statistically significant neutron and gamma ray emissions" after sound waves and pulsed neutrons hit a chilled liquid acetone tank spiked with deuterium fuel.
When Taleyarkhan and his team of researchers made the same claim in an article in the journal Science two years ago, many scientists reacted with skepticism, even ridicule. But new experiments, using better detectors, offer more convincing data that the phenomenon is real.
"We've addressed all the issues and now they all speak for themselves with far greater intensity than they did before," said Taleyarkhan, who conducted the experiments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and is a professor of nuclear engineering at Purdue.
"A fair amount of very substantial new work was conducted, " Taleyarkhan said. "And also, this time around I made a conscious decision to involve as many individuals as possible - top scientists and physicists from around the world and experts in neutron science - to come to the lab and review our procedures and findings before we even submitted the manuscript to a journal for its own independent peer review."
See also:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994741
Article from 2002.
Indian scientist claims holy grail of physics
By CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA
© 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.
Excerpts from report in Times of India ... full article available at: http://www1.timesofindia.com/Articleshow...id=2888304
WASHINGTON: An Indian-American scientist with the IIT imprimatur has, along with several American colleagues, caused a stir in the world scientific community by claiming to have achieved nuclear fusion in a small table top experiment. If it is proved right and authenticated by peers, such a fusion â the same principle that fuels the sun â could be the source of cheap, clean and limitless energy, and could change the world.
Scientists have worked for decades in this direction and the possibility that a team might have cracked the problem is considered so remote that the announcement, to be reported in the journal Science later this week, has been greeted with scepticism in the academic community. Leading the research team making a stab at what is considered the holy grail in the world of physics is Rusi Taleyarkhan, a senior scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and Richard Lahey, a professor of engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.
Taleyarkhan earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, and came to the United States in 1977, earning a master's degrees in nuclear engineering and business administration and later a doctorate in nuclear engineering, also from Rensselaer. He considers Dr Lahey, who is also close to India and has consulted with the Indian nuclear establishment, his mentor.
...
"Of course Mother Nature does throw googlies at us, but we believe it can be scaled and are optimistically cautious," Dr Taleyarkhan told this correspondent in an interview Tuesday from his lab in Oakridge. "Such a process also has applications other than mass energy production, such as food radiation and chemical synthesis."
The journal Science itself was non-committal. "In this instance, we see no good reason for suppressing the paper, and even less for attempts to discredit in advance. The premature critics of the result, and those who believe in it, would both do well to cool it, and wait for the scientific process to do its work," it said in an editorial comment.
Dr Taleyarkhanâs has impressive scientific pedigree and credentials. He has been the group leader and program manager in the Engineering and Technology Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. One of his more remarkable inventions is a rifle that can be adjusted so its user fires bullets at varying speeds. The US government has shown great interest in the project because such a non-lethal weapon can be used effectively for peace-keeping, riot-control, and school security.
Son of a prominent Parsi clan of Mumbai, Dr Taleyarkhanâs larger family includes luminaries such as the late Bobby Talyarekhan, the famous radio broadcaster, and Homi Taleyarkhan, a former diplomat. He is married to Navaz Rusi and they have three children, Pervin, Manaz and Meher.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Possible Nuclear Fusion in Experiment
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
© 2002 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Excerpts from report ... full text available from AP.
March 5, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A phenomenon that may be nuclear fusion was created in a laboratory bottle by researchers who zapped tiny dissolved bubbles with sound waves, which triggered a flash of light and a brief surge of superhigh temperatures.
Using a device described as the size of three stacked coffee cups, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute say the phenomenon was like nuclear fusion in a bottle. Some scientists disputed the claim. The study appears this week in the journal Science and was released for publication by the journal on Monday. Researchers at Oak Ridge said the experiment, which they called "bubble fusion," created two signs of nuclear fusion: a burst of subatomic particles called neutrons and the production of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen.
In an unusual additional review, however, two other Oak Ridge researchers said the experiment's results were not accurate. This additional report was posted on the Internet by Science, along with a response by the original authors.
Harnessing nuclear fusion, the power that lights the sun, has long been a goal of researchers who view it as the ultimate energy source. Most researchers have concentrated on huge machines that mimic the sun by compressing hydrogen plasma and heating it to millions of degrees to force atoms to fuse. This reaction gives off heat and an isotope of helium, along with some subatomic particles.
In the experiment reported in Science, researchers used the simple equipment to create and analyze a brief flash and burst of heat that may be fusion. R. P. Taleyarkhan of Oak Ridge, the first author of the study, said in Science that the experiment is true "tabletop physics," using an apparatus "the size of three coffee cups stacked on top of the other." Richard Lahey Jr., a Rensselaer professor and a co-author of the study, said in a statement it was not clear whether the technique could be used as an energy source.
In the study, researchers used a beaker of a chemical called deuterated acetone. Normal acetone is a colorless, volatile liquid often used as a paint remover or chemical solvent. In deuterated acetone, the chemical's normal hydrogen atoms have been replaced with deuterium, a hydrogen isotope that is heavier than ordinary hydrogen and is capable of fusion reactions. When combined with oxygen, deuterium is sometimes called "heavy water."
The researchers introduced tiny bubbles, no bigger than the period at the end of a sentence, into the beaker. They then zapped the bubbles with sound waves. The bubbles rapidly expanded and then collapsed. It's believed that the bubble collapse causes a momentary shock wave that creates high pressures, high temperatures and a flash of light, called sonoluminescence.
...
The announcement of the Taleyarkhan tabletop fusion experiment is in sharp contrast to one that University of Utah researchers announced at a news conference in 1989. Unlike the Utah experiment, which was rejected by many other physicists, Taleyarkhan's experiment was reviewed by a committee of experts, selected by Science, before the study was accepted for publication.
On the Net: Science: http://www.sciencemag.org