At 04:04 PM 5/25/2012, Alan J Fletcher wrote:
At 01:49 PM 5/25/2012, Alan J Fletcher wrote:
"Hundreds of wave trains and vortices appeared everywhere and are
permanently burned into walls, objects and trees surrounding the lab."
Came from Le Clair himself, in response to Krivit
<http://blog.newenergytimes.com/2011/01/31/new-energy-times-issue-36-letters/>http://blog.newenergytimes.com/2011/01/31/new-energy-times-issue-36-letters/
There is an exchange of comments between LeClerc and Krivit at that
page. Krivit states:
Based on what you described and have shown to me, I believe you have
accomplished a clear demonstration of low-energy nuclear reactions.
Your work appears worthy of much credit and support, though your
claim of fusion at room temperature does not.
That's an unfortunate comment, because if LeClair's reports are
accurate at all, this would definitely not be LENR. It is not
"room-temperature" fusion, and LeClair doesn't claim that it is. The
effects reported by LeClair are exotic, not resembling reports of
LENRs, which tend to show very low levels of radiation, if any.
Krivit is promoting, it's clear, Widom-Larsen theory, which has, as
its principal appeal, that it is allegedly "not fusion." It's a
semantic issue, for if an effect converts deuterium to helium, by
whatever mechanism and through whatever intemediates, it has
*accomplished* fusion. LeClair's work would have nothing to do with
W-L theory, which requires a surface catalyzing slow neutron formation.
It is common to see bubble fusion confused with cold fusion. It would
be a bit like claiming that tokamak fusion is at room temperature,
because, after all, the tokamak is at room temperature (or close).
I've also seen those little neutron generators, that use a
piezoelectric effect to fuse deuterium, called "cold fusion." Not.
Hot, very hot, but the device is nice and cool.
Bubble collapse is known to generate extremely high temperatures at
the point of collapse, and the controversy over bubble fusion centers
on whether or not the temperatures are *high enough* for fusion.
There is also some controversy over whether or not the reports of
"bubble fusion" are fusion as well, with some discussion of the
possibility of a Zero Point Energy effect.
But nobody with knowledge of the work and the issues is claiming that
bubble fusion -- or the "LeClair effect," in this case -- is LENR,
except, here, for Krivit. And if it was "clear," I wonder what he
meant by "clear."
I'm not sure it matters now, but perhaps someone will ask Krivit.
I did read the Wikipedia article on Bubble fusion. It leads with
calling bubble fusion "a now-discredited nuclear fusion reaction."
The citation provided says nothing about bubble fusion being "now
discredited." If so, that is merely "buzz." Taleyarkhan was stripped
of his professorship in 2008, over what amount to technical
administrative violations, having nothing to do with the quality of
the research, *on the face.* The latest experimental work reported in
the Wikipedia article was an independent *confirmation*.
My own summary: bubble fusion is unlikely to result in commercial
power generation, even if it's real, which it might be, and, as a
result, there is no high motivation to confirm or conclusively reject
it. It's an old story: a few negative replications means very little,
because replications can fail for many reasons. What would be
interesting would be *replication*, i.e., reporting what had been
reported by, say, Taleyarkhan, followed by a clear *demonstration*
that this was artifact.
LeClair's work, which allegedly focuses a shock wave, produced by
bubble collapse, on a target, could be something different. Quite
some time ago, when LeClair's claims surfaced, I suggested that there
were vast military implications, that LeClair's work was known to
people with access to the military, and that it was likely there had
been a military investigation (such as talking to the EMTs that
allegedly responded, and the HazMat team that showed up, and a visit
to LeClair's lab, examining the trees and walls allegedly having
"permanent" markings), with the probable result being "nothing to
look at here." If the results had been real, it would have been
likely that the whole thing would have been declared secret, LeClair
would have been compensated, etc.
Of course, perhaps, then, LeClair's apparent ravings are part of the
plan, designed to discredit what might have leaked out.... there is
no limit to the stories that can be made up....
