The claim that nuclear fusion can take place inside tiny imploding bubbles of acetone in bench-top experiments has suffered a deflating blow.

More. (http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992584)

Originally posted by Adam


Meh... fusion was my primary study in school and I remember reading up on that when I was graduating. Sonoluminescent fusion is nice, but you're still coupling a 21st century technology to a 19th century energy conversion system.

Fusion reactors that allow for direct energy conversion are what we should be spending more (LOTS more) on. Energy conversion efficiencies for those devices can reach 90% and greater. :cool:

You know what would be groovy? If you started a thread about fusion, and just threw in some interesting notes or thoughts on the subject now and then. Such as information about the technologies involved.

From what I've read of the article it is still possible, and the below information combined with another idea I have could still make it feasable;)


In the first measurements of their kind, Yuri Didenko and Kenneth Suslick of the University of Illinois in the US tracked the processes that occurred in a single bubble in water when it was compressed by pulses of sound. They conclude that endothermic chemical reactions would make it "exceedingly difficult" to reach the high temperatures needed to spark nuclear fusion in such bubbles.

They also said,

"the possibility of fusion occurring in low-volatility fluids - such as liquid metals and molten salts - cannot be ruled out at this time."