Another step on the road to harnessing the power of stars – Smithers Interior News

If you were anywhere near being an adult in 1989, you probably remember the media sensation surrounding “cold fusion.”

That was the year two respected scientists, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, reported an experiment to fuse deuterium (heavy hydrogen) ions had produced excess heat and nuclear reaction byproducts at room temperature.

All the excitement, of course, was about the possibility of a virtually limitless supply of cheap and environmentally-friendly energy.

The promise of fusion, in which two lighter atoms combine into a heavier one releasing vast amounts of energy, is compelling. It is what drives the power of the sun.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. If hydrogen atoms could be fused at room temperature as the experiment seemed to…