Cluster Impact Fusion is a suggested method of producing practical
fusion power
Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices d ...
using small clusters of
heavy water molecules directly accelerated into a
titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...
-
deuteride
In chemistry, a hydride is formally the anion of hydrogen( H−). The term is applied loosely. At one extreme, all chemical compound, compounds containing covalent bond, covalently bound H atoms are called hydrides: water (H2O) is a hydride of ...
target. Calculations suggested that such a system enhanced the
cross section
Cross section may refer to:
* Cross section (geometry)
** Cross-sectional views in architecture & engineering 3D
*Cross section (geology)
* Cross section (electronics)
* Radar cross section, measure of detectability
* Cross section (physics)
**Ab ...
by many orders of magnitude. It is a particular implementation of the larger
beam-target fusion concept.
The idea was first reported by researchers at
Brookhaven in 1989. Intrigued by recent reports of
cold fusion
Cold fusion is a hypothesized type of nuclear reaction that would occur at, or near, room temperature. It would contrast starkly with the "hot" fusion that is known to take place naturally within stars and artificially in hydrogen bombs and p ...
, they attempted to study potential causes for the effect by accelerating tiny droplets of heavy water, about 25 to 1300 D
2O molecules each, into a target at about 220 eV. To their surprise they immediately saw fusion effects, at a rate that was many times what any of them could explain via conventional theory.
The experiment was fairly simple in concept but required an appropriate accelerator, so it was some time before other labs were able to repeat the experiments. One of the first was the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...
, who reported a null result in 1991. Further experiments and a review from
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
in 1992 solved the mystery: the fusion products were the results of contamination, which could be eliminated by filtering with a magnet.
The Brookhaven experimenters tried this and the effect disappeared.
Cluster impact fusion references end abruptly at that point.
See also
*
Impact fusion, which fires
Macron (physics) In physics, macrons are microscopic (dust-sized) particles, accelerated to high speeds. The term was first used in the late 1960s, when it was believed that macrons could be accelerated cheaply in small particle accelerators as a way of achieving lo ...
or other projectiles into fuel to compress and heat it
References
{{Reflist
Nuclear technology
Cold fusion