Cold Fusion comes in a foot long cylinder

UCLA scientists led by Dr. Seth J. Putterman are reporting today that they have produced nuclear fusion in a footlong cylinder just five inches in diameter. Their findings are being reported in the journal Nature.

However it will not even heat your palm, at least not yet.

The minifusion device accelerates hydrogen atoms and slams them together to produce helium.

The central component of the device is a crystal of lithium tantalate, which belongs to a class of materials known as pyroelectrics.

“What Putterman’s made is an amazing little accelerator,” Dr. Happer said. “It’s a version of that that doesn’t need any high voltage.”

Dr. Putterman says he envisions a device consisting just of an egg-size container with a crystal, deuterium gas and the target inside. Plunging the container into ice water or warming it with body heat would be enough to set off the reactions. “We can diddle temperature a mere 30 degrees and generate fields that make fusion,” he said.

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