Cold fusion facts for kids
Cold fusion is a big idea about making nuclear fusion happen at normal room temperature and regular pressure. Nuclear fusion is a powerful process where tiny parts of atoms, called nuclei, are pushed together to join. When they combine, they form a heavier nucleus and release a lot of energy. Some scientists hope that cold fusion could be a future way to create clean energy for Earth. However, most scientists do not agree that it is possible yet.
To make nuclear fusion happen, you usually need a huge amount of energy. This energy is used to push the nuclei together. Nuclei naturally push away from each other because of something called the electrostatic force. This force comes from protons, which are tiny particles inside the nucleus that have a positive electrical charge. But if you can push the nuclei close enough, another much stronger force takes over. This is called the strong nuclear force. It only works over very short distances. When nuclei get super close, the strong nuclear force pulls them together, and it's much stronger than the electrostatic force that tries to push them apart. Scientists hope that the energy released by cold fusion would be much more than the energy needed to start the process.
The Cold Fusion Claim
In 1989, two scientists named Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann made a big announcement. They published a paper in Nature, which is a very important science magazine. They claimed they had created cold fusion in their experiments. This news was a huge deal at the time!
However, other scientists tried to repeat their experiments exactly, but they couldn't get the same results. Because of this, most scientists today do not generally accept cold fusion as a proven scientific fact. Even so, several dozen scientists are still working on cold fusion research. They publish their findings in science journals and other academic places regularly.
Images for kids
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Diagram of a special device called a calorimeter used in Japan to measure heat from cold fusion experiments.
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This is a cold fusion machine from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego in 2005.
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These "triple tracks" in a CR-39 plastic detector were claimed as proof of tiny particles called neutrons coming from palladium deuteride.
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Michael McKubre working on a cold fusion cell that uses deuterium gas at SRI International.
See also
In Spanish: Fusión fría para niños
