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Cold Fusion: Problematizing the Scientific Method |
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Imagine that there was a way to produce energy that created no air pollution, no carbon dioxide, much less radiation than conventional nuclear power plants, used an almost limitless and incredibly cheap fuel source - seawater, and produced a great deal more energy than was necessary to run it. This system could indeed "change the world forever by providing a source of virtually limitless power" (Time, May 8 '89). In March of 1989, two Utah chemists held a press conference and told the world that they had discovered how to do this and it was called cold fusion. In the months that followed, this "discovery" unleashed enough controversy to make apparent that cold fusion was about politics, rivalry, fame, and money, just as much as it was about science, perhaps even more so. But the story really begins with conventional fusion. Fusion involves the merging of the cores of atoms. More specifically it is the merging of the nuclei of two light atoms to produce one heavier atom, plus some energy. So naturally when Martin Fleischmann of The University of Southampton in England and B. Stanley Pons, his former student, of the University of Utah claimed that they had produced fusion using an apparatus similar to one used in high schools to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen, and that these fusion reactions had occurred at room temperature, not 50 million degrees Celsius, naturally people were interested. They began to think that room temperature fusion was possible when they realized that a metal called palladium "soaks up and locks within its lattice a form of Hydrogen called Deuterium" (Newsweek, April 17, 1989). Once embedded in the structure of palladium, deuterium atoms are very densely packed but also have a good degree of movement. Therefore many collisions are possible and some of these could inevitably lead to fusion. The apparatus that Pons and Fleischmann developed consisted of a jar of liquid with two electrodes in it hooked up to a battery. The liquid was "heavy water," commonly found in the oceans, which had "heavy" Deuterium instead of Hydrogen. Its chemical composition is therefore D20 instead of H20. One electrode was made up of Palladium while the other was made up of platinum and spiraled around the palladium rod. These electrodes were hooked up to a 12 volt battery, so that when current was turned on, the palladium rod became the negative cathode, while the copper wire became the positive anode. The current separates the heavy water into Deuterium and Oxygen ions. The negative oxygen ions move to the platinum while the positive Deuterium ions move towards the palladium, where according to the properties of Palladium, they are absorbed into its lattice-like structure. As previously stated, the Deuterium ions gather in such large quantities that their repulsion is overcome and they fuse creating Helium-3, neutrons, and most importantly energy - much more energy than was put into the system from the 12-volt battery. At least this is how it works in theory. As if this breakthrough discovery were not fantastic enough, the story behind it captured the mind of the public. It truly appealed to the amateur scientist and the underdog fan. "Though both are respected researchers in the field of electrochemistry," read a Time article from May 8, 1989, "their backgrounds were quirky enough to suggest that almost anything was possible. Pons, in particular had an unorthodox professional history." He had dropped out of graduate school in 1967 to work in his family's textile business and later managed a restaurant. In 1978, after ten years away from Science, he went to Sounthampton University to get his degree, where he worked under Fleischmann. He was later chairperson of chemistry at the University of Utah. Pons and Fleischmann's search for cold fusion did not begin like most experiments do, in a cold impersonal laboratory. Instead it happened while the two were hiking in 1984 in the countryside of Utah near Salt Lake City. They began talking about Palladium and its property of absorbing Hydrogen (or Deuterium). They hypothesized that the Deuterium nuclei might come close enough to fuse. Later that day, in Pons' kitchen, the continued their discussion over glasses of Jack Daniel's, where they sketched out designs of the now infamous apparatus. In the months that followed they set up numerous experiments all of which were unsuccessful. Finally in 1985, a cell that they had set up melted because of the heat produced and they felt that they were on the right track. Between then and 1989, when the announcement was made, Pons and Fleischmann used $100,000 of their own money to fund the project. These were not the crazy, wild eyed scientists of the movies, nor were they the boring, impersonal scientists in lab coats of the public imagination. Rather they were two average guys, hiking, drinking and talking just like anybody else, and this is one very important reason why they captured the public's interest. In addition, they used their own money to fund their experiments which must have struck a chord with amateur scientists. Finally their apparatus was not a high tech atom smasher or a particle accelerator, but a simple jar of water with electrodes hooked up to a car battery, something which everyone who had been through high school chemistry could no doubt relate to. And this discovery was going to revolutionize the production of energy. This is the stuff of novels and movies, not just the laboratory. If the press conference on March 23, 1989 is to be considered the pinnacle of Pons' and Fleischmann's endeavors with cold fusion, things very quickly went downhill afterward. To begin with, the simple fact that they had announced their discovery first in a press conference instead of a scientific journal or conference bothered many of their colleagues. "This new phenomenon of science by press conference disturbed many researchers" and again, "scientific protocol went out the window as researchers called press conferences to trumpet the latest results before verifying them" (Time May 8, 89). Despite this very public gesture, Pons and Fleischmann were actually quite secretive about the exact nature of their experiment. They did not talk to scientists who tried to call them and allowed those at the press conference to look very briefly at an unpublished paper, but did not allow them to reproduce any parts of it. A paper was published soon after the press conference in the Swiss "Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry and Interfacial Electrochemistry," but it still was not informative enough to reproduce the experiment accurately or to know exactly what was going on. Pons and Fleischmann have maintained that secrecy was necessary in order to protect their information. The University of Utah filed a number of patent applications which were pending at the time of the press conference. Cold Fusion is obviously worth a great deal of money. In addition, they justified their press conference by saying that they needed to explain the information that had already leaked out. They also submitted a paper to Nature, but were asked by the editors to submit more information. Whether they did or not is still debated but their paper was withdrawn. "Pons and Fleischmann [went public] long before they were ready. Their paper on cold fusion is considered less-far less-than rigorous" (Time, May 8, 89). "If a freshman physics or chemistry major had done it," said Richard Muller, a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, "they would have flunked" (Time, May 8, 89). Despite the public and scientific protocol denying nature of their announcement, scientists around the world tried to reproduce their experiment. Aided by drawings of the apparatus and leaked copies of the paper sent to the Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry and Interfacial Electrochemistry, scientists worked feverishly to try to produce fusion. Many proclaimed that they had achieved success. One after another however, these claims were debunked or their authors rescinded them. The Georgia Institute of Technology claimed to have detected neutrons in a cell they had set up (one sign of fusion), but later admitted to a possible broken neutron detector. Similarly Texas A & M University claimed to have produced large amounts of heat in a cell, although in later experiments they were not able to produce as much. In addition only one of the seven cells they set up worked and they did not measure neutrons in any of the cells, only heat, therefore another chemical reaction could be taking place which was not fusion. So it seems that Pons and Fleischmann acted prematurely and should have waited longer before proclaiming that they had solved the riddle of cold fusion. But what would make them "jump the gun" and overlook the necessary steps that take place in all scientific endeavors, namely what is called the scientific method? One part of this answer may be found in the work of Steven Jones, a physicist from Brigham Young University, also in Utah. Steve Jones and John Rafelski of the University of Arizona were working on muon-driven fusion. Muons are incredibly small particles which can be substituted for electrons orbiting around Hydrogen nuclei. These muons allow the hydrogen nuclei to get 200 times closer to each other than electrons would, so fusion can be possible. However not much heat is generated by this method so it is not really a viable commercial energy option. Jones had also experimented with fusion involving metals, but did not generated as much heat as Pons and Fleischmann. Whereas Pons and Fleischmann reported 4 watts of power out of each of their cells for every watt put in, Jones has reported less than a trillionth. These two groups had been working unbeknownst to each other until September of 1988 when Jones was asked to peer review a Pons-Fleischmann grant application. Jones contacted Pons and suggested a collaboration or at least a meeting. On March 6, scientists and administrators from the University of Utah and from Brigham Young University met to discuss the issuing of statements, since both groups were very close to finishing their research. Pons and Fleischmann wanted to wait, but Jones was eager to release a statement and had already been invited to talk to the American Physical Society in May. In the end, both groups agreed to submit papers to Nature at the same time, on March 24. When Pons and Fleischmann held a press conference on March 23, Jones felt that they had broken some contract, had stolen his thunder, so to speak. Therefore we can see that one reason for the early press conference was a rivalry between Pons and Jones. Complicating this is a rivalry between the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. Although the University of Utah is state supported, Brigham Young is more popular with the Mormon majority. So, much of the pressure for the premature issuing of statements came from the administration that was afraid that their rival Brigham Young would get the attention for cold fusion first. In addition, they felt that this kind of declaration would give them not only fame, but would help with their serious financial difficulties. The University of Utah also has trouble being considered a serious University in the eyes of more established universities on the coasts and larger universities. Perhaps this press conference was Utah's way of standing up to the more established Universities that had so often thumbed their noses at them. Politics also surfaces when we look at the reception to the announcement, not just the reasons for it. Traditionally, Fusion is studied by physicists. In the minds of many chemists, physicists look down on them for studying things like detergent and paint - things that have no real significance when compared to the ground breaking work of fusion. That is why, when two chemists announced that they had discovered cold fusion, many physicists felt that their turf had been violated. Indeed most of those who attacked Pons and Fleischmann's work were physicists. From these examples we can see that much of the controversy surrounding Pons and Fleischmann's cold fusion announcement actually had little to do with pure science and indeed was much more closely related to politics. But what about the scientific merit of their experiments? It has already been noted that their paper was regarded by many as less than satisfactory. This is indicative of the fact that they did not follow the procedures usually followed by scientists. In addition, they did not perform the necessary control tests to see whether or not fusion actually occurred in their apparatus or whether it was another chemical reaction. "The University and the scientists released the experimental results in a way that maximized publicity but defied the conventions that are supposed to ensure the reliability of scientific information. Apparently eager to gain recognition, they didn't take the simplest steps to try to determine whether what they were saying was true" (New Republic, April 24, 1989). Many holes have been found in Pons' and Fleischmann's experiment which shows that they probably did not achieve fusion, not commercially viable fusion in any event. First, the amount of heat measured in their experiment was billions of times greater than would be accounted for by Deuterium fusion. If the heat that they recorded was produced by Deuterium fusion, so many neutrons would also have been produced that they would both have been killed. They detected almost no neutrons. (In addition, fusion produces radiation, and Pons and Fleischmann recorded no radiation.) Their explanation for this is that there are "unknown nuclear processes" at work (Newsweek, April 17 1989). Some have tried to account for this by saying that a different reaction is taking place - possibly 2 deuteriums producing Helium 4 (instead of Helium 3) and energy, but no neutrons. Another possible explanation is that fusion and chemical reactions are taking place. The heat could be a result of Deuterium atoms forming into molecules. The few neutrons produced could be a result of muon-derived fusion. In this scenario, a few fusions would be producing the low number of neutrons, but the chemical reactions would be producing lots of heat. This would mean that Pons and Fleischmann had not found a commercially viable source of cold fusion. Chemist Linus Pauling has offered a different explanation - that the palladium becomes unstable and deteriorates as a result of absorbing high levels of deuterium, which would account for the heat produced. Another possibility has to do with the claim that Pons and Fleischmann added lithium to the "heavy water" to make it conduct electricity better. The lithium may have fused with the Deuterium producing heat. Even if they had successfully achieved cold fusion, would it have been commercially viable? According to Newsweek (April 17, 1989) the seawater needed for the reaction is virtually free, but palladium costs $5 million per ton. A 1,000 megawatt plant would need 400 tons of palladium. In addition, there is some evidence that palladium becomes less effective at absorbing hydrogen at higher temperatures - like those in a power plant. While it seems clear that Pons and Fleischmann were not malevolent scientists out to fool the public and make lots of money, their research as well as their decision to publicize it was compromised by other factors. Politics, fame, and excitement over something which could potentially revolutionize energy production caused them to be sloppy in their methods, to publicize their work before it was done, and has shaped the reaction to their announcement. As a Time, May 8 1989 article stated, "it seems likely that they jumped to a hasty conclusion based on incomplete research." This led them to seriously disregard the scientific method and to bypass the usual steps the scientific community has set up to make sure information is correct and to safeguard the veracity of information published. Bibliography
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For instance, one kind of fusion involves combining two deuterium atoms (an isotope of hydrogen which has one neutron in addition to a proton) into one heavier helium atom. In the process, energy is yielded. The only problem with doing this is that atomic nuclei naturally repel each other because of their positive charges. An incredible amount of energy must be expended in order to overcome this repulsion. To emphasize this point, the sun is fueled by fusion. It takes conditions similar to those at the center of the sun to produce fusion. The fusion in an H-bomb, for instance, is triggered by an A-bomb. This means that scientists in the laboratory must use expensive lasers, magnets, and heat atoms to "50 million degrees Celsius or squash them to superhigh density" (Time, April 17 1989). Still, with conventional fusion, more energy is put into the system than is yielded so it has never been a commercially viable energy source. For over 40 years, scientists have been trying to produce a form of conventional fusion which is practical. |
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