Cold Fusion In HP#3 I mentioned the possibility of cold fusion processes. In late March of this year Dr. Stanley Pons and Dr. Martin Fleischmann of the University of Utah announced they had achieved cold fusion in an experiment that produced more energy than it consumed. This experiment was funded by the researchers themselves. The experiment consisted of a palladium and a platinum electrode immersed in a solution of heavy water and lithium hydroxide. Heavy water is a compound, deuterium oxide, in which the hydrogen atoms have two neutrons. The hydrogen atoms of normal water have one neutron. The lithium hydroxide was there for better ion transfer. A DC electric potential was applied to the electrodes and after a certain amount of time energy in the form of heat was seen to come from the experimental vessel. It is theorized that the electric potential caused the deuterium atoms to migrate into the crystal structure of the palladium electrode. When the density of the deuterium within the palladium reaches a certain value then fusion occurs. At this density, a type of quantum tunneling effect must occur to overcome the electric repulsion between atomic nuclei and allow the strong nuclear force to be asserted. Speculation is that it will take at least ten years to harness this process. If it works, we could have cheap, clean energy for the foreseeable future.