# Does ANYBODY Still Believe COLD FUSION is Possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013 "2004-08-02T19:45:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/1 "2004-08-02T19:45:51Z")
It seems a few scientists are still trying to prove cold fusion. I had thought thta the idea had been discredited…Pons and Fleischman’s work had been shot full of holes. Now, I read that some research is going on now. My limited understanding is: scientists cannot understand how hydrogen fusion could take place without a copious flux of neutron radiation…has anyone proposed an alternate explanation? Has anybody gotten power OUTof a CF reactor? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/2 "2004-08-02T20:08:13Z")
To answer your question specifically, obviously, yes, somebody does. They’re still researching it. To answer your poll as if it were in IMHO, then yes, I do believe that it is technically possible to create, contain and draw power from a very small fusion reaction. I do not know how long it will take us to develop the level of technology capable of pulling it off, but whether it takes two years or two hundred, if we don’t start, we’ll never get there. In the meantime, whether we ever get there or not, we will learn a great deal about fusion and high energy stuff that we otherwise might not that could be very cool (we could invent force fields, for example, in an attempt to contain the fusion reaction; that, for me, was the real invention in Spiderman 2 that everybody overlooked, because, hey, explosion!). ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/3 "2004-08-02T20:17:42Z")
> [@ralph124c41](#): > > It seems a few scientists are still trying to prove cold fusion. I had thought that the idea had been discredited…Pons and Fleischman’s work had been shot full of holes. Reality does not respond to public opinion polls. If there are still unexplained neutrons or heat production coming out of hydrogen charged bricks of titanium, you can be sure that some graduate student somewhere is burning the midnight oil trying to figure out why. Even if the answer doesn’t turn out to be “cold fusion”, it could still turn out to be useful, and not just in terms of fulfilling the researcher’s dissertation requirements. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/4 "2004-08-02T20:22:37Z")
Sonofusion ([http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/03/040303080222.htm](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/03/040303080222.htm)) seems at least vaguely promising. Although the mechanism is different than “cold fusion”, the process of sonically collapsing bubbles to produce high pressure and temperature does seem to produce the by-products of fusion. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/5 "2004-08-02T20:32:34Z")
Heck, even hot fission struck many people as impossible (Ernest Rutherford called it “moonshine”), right up until it was done. Of course, that doesn’t prove anything. The vast majority of nutty ideas remain nutty ideas forever, but getting all rolleyed about them is silly. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/6 "2004-08-02T22:07:00Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > (we could invent force fields, for example, in an attempt to contain the fusion reaction; that, for me, was the real invention in Spiderman 2 that everybody overlooked, because, hey, explosion!). I’m not sure what you mean by this. Lots of places in the world are seriously researching practical fusion (which has been “just 25 years away” for the past half-century), but every single frame and word of dialog on the subject in Spiderman 2 was sheer fantasy nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/7 "2004-08-02T22:49:08Z")
Heck, you can buy [Coldfusion](http://www.macromedia.com/software/coldfusion/?promoid=home_prod_cf_082403) on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/8 "2004-08-02T22:59:42Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Has anybody gotten power OUTof a CF reactor? :rolleyes: Sort of… just nowhere near as much as they put in, [only they tend not to call it “Cold Fusion” anymore](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muon-catalyzed_fusion) ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/9 "2004-08-03T00:36:10Z")
Cold Fusion aka Muon-catalyzed fusion \<[http://members.aol.com/jnaudin509/](http://members.aol.com/jnaudin509/)\> Zero Point Energy \<[http://www.cheniere.org/](http://www.cheniere.org/)\> Caution: Take these with a grain of salt! ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/10 "2004-08-03T00:56:00Z")
Me ---
**Author:** ![Daver914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Daver914](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daver914)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/11 "2004-08-03T00:58:37Z")
> [@JeffB](#): > > Heck, you can buy [Coldfusion](http://www.macromedia.com/software/coldfusion/?promoid=home_prod_cf_082403) on the internet. Damn, you beat me to the smart-ass remark punch. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-believe-cold-fusion-is-possible/258013/12 "2004-08-03T01:04:23Z")
[The Feds are investigating it as a possible source of tritium.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=265830)