Word: fusion
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None of the criticisms leveled at Pons and Fleischmann mean that they are necessarily wrong. But the burden of proof remains on them. So far, they have failed to demonstrate convincingly that they have indeed produced a new sort of fusion. And if the two chemists cannot think of any way to explain the excess heat in their experiment without resorting to nuclear reactions, others can. Chemist Linus Pauling, a Nobel laureate and himself something of an iconoclast, thinks that when absorbing high concentrations of deuterium, the palladium lattice may become unstable and deteriorate, releasing heat...
Even if Pons and Fleischmann should turn out to be right, the world's energy problems are not necessarily over. As the proponents of more conventional fusion research have learned, transforming a reaction from a laboratory curiosity to a full-scale energy technology can be incredibly difficult. Magnetic fusion has yet to achieve break-even, the stage at which the amount of energy coming out is equal to that going in. Says Harold Furth, director of Princeton's effort: "We are essentially within a factor of two of break-even now. Seeing that it used to be a factor...
...short, no matter which scheme proves best, the virtually limitless power that could eventually result from fusion is a dream that will not come true anytime soon. The solution to the world's energy crisis is not likely to be declared in a press conference. It must be slowly and carefully worked out, step by painstaking step...
COVER: The chemists who claim they created fusion in a jar have either revamped physics or made a big mistake...
...dropped everything when they heard the startling announcement that the nuclear process at the heart of both the sun and the H- bomb could be duplicated in a test tube. But after more than a month of trying to reproduce the original experiment, most laboratories have nothing to show. -- Fusion fiascoes through the years. See SCIENCE...