QED Induced Cold Fusion in Italy

Feb. 7, 2011 - PRLog -- [ Background
On 14 January 2011, Italian scientists Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi at the University of Bologna disclosed ongoing development of a cold fusion device producing 12,400 W of heat with an input of just 400 W. See http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-italian-scientists-cold-fusion-video.html.  Details are sketchy. However, the patent application discloses fusion occurs by electrically heating Ni powder under hydrogen gas. The powder is comprised of Ni particles including submicron nanoparticles (NPs).  In operation, the device starts with about 1,000 W of electricity, which is reduced to 400 W after a few minutes.  

Patent Office Disclosure and Publication
Rossi and Focardi admit they do not know the mechanism by which cold fusion is triggered, and instead simply claim the prototype supplied with 400 W of electrical heat produces 12,400 W.  Nuclear fusion and not chemical reactions are claimed, i.e., “the presence of copper and the release of energy are witnesses.” Steven Krivit, publisher of the New Energy Times, noted that Rossi and Focardi’s reactor seems similar to a nickel-hydrogen low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) device originally developed by Piantelli  Rossi claims a LENR fusion rate of about 7x10^16/s.  See http://www.22passi.it/downloads/LENRMain.pdf   However,  Rossi and Focardi’s patent for the device has been rejected and publication of a supporting paper refused by peer-reviewed journals Ibid.

QED Induced Radiation
The Cold Fusion observed in Rossi and Focardi’s device is not caused by LENRs or some magical fusion catalyst, but rather by the QED radiation produced from the NPs in the nickel powder. QED stands for quantum electrodynamics. The QED radiation is a consequence of QM that requires the specific heat of NPs to vanish, and therefore absorbed EM energy from heating cannot be conserved by an increase in temperature. QM stands for quantum mechanics and EM for electromagnetic. Instead, absorbed EM energy is conserved by creating QED photons inside the NPs by frequency-up conversion to their TIR resonance. TIR stands for total internal reflection. Since the NPs are submicron, the frequency of the QED photons is typically beyond the UV even up to SXRs. UV stands for ultraviolet and SXRs for soft x-rays.  QED induced radiation has explained many heretofore unresolved problems in physics, e.g. see http://www.nanoqed.org, 2009-2011.

Cold Fusion Application
In Rossi and Focardi’s reactor, EM energy in the form of electrical heat is converted to QED photons inside the NPs. Similar to creating photons of wavelength L by supplying EM energy to a QM box having sides separated by L/2, the QED photons spontaneously form under the TIR confinement of the NP. Since NPs have high surface to volume ratio, the absorbed EM energy is deposited almost entirely in the TIR mode tangential to the NP surface, and therefore the EM confinement although momentary is self-sustaining. As long as EM energy is supplied to the NP there is no limit to the number of QED photons that may be accumulate in the NP, and therefore the EM energy inside the NPs continues to increase to the 2.6 MeV/ atom level to transmute 6.15MeV - 62Ni to 8.7MeV- 63Cu.

But QED radiation beyond the UV is only produced in NPs < 100 nm. The temperature of Rossi and Focardi’s reactor increases because QM allows the larger particles to conserve the absorbed electrical heat by an increase in temperature. Provided the thermal insulation is sufficient to preclude any heat loss to the surroundings, the QED photon energy may be equated to the supplied electrical heat. When the accumalated QED photon energy/atom reaches 2.6MeV, the Ni atoms fuse. Hydrogen gas molecules under pressure of about 80 bars in contact with the NP surface fuse along with the Ni atoms.  

QED photons are created in the NP with Planck energy E = hc/2nD, where h is Planck’s constant, c the speed of light, and n and D are the NP refractive index and diameter. Although the distribution of NP size is required, only 5 nm Ni NPs are considered in the following. Since nickel has n = 1.08, the created QED photons have energy E = 115 eV. The total number of Ni atoms in the reactor is NpNa, where Np is the number of NPs and Na the number of atoms/NP. The Ni lattice spacing of 0.352 nm gives Na = pi (5/0.352)^3/6 = 1500 atoms/NP. But the number Np of NPs is not given, and is estimated from the amount of input heat Qin necessary to raise all Ni atoms to the 2.6 MeV necessary for fusion, i.e., Np = Qin/ (Na (2.6MeV)(1.6x10^-19)). For Qin = 400 and 1000 W, Np = 6.4x10^11 and 1.6x10^12, and therefore the respective fusion reaction rate NaNp = 9.6x10^14/s and 2.4x10^15/s compared to Rossi’s estimate of 7x10^16/s. For the same heat output Qout, the fusion energy release / reaction depends on the diameter and number Np of NPs and varies from 33 to 81 MeV/atom. For a more detailed explanation, see Ibid, “Italian Cold Fusion”, 2011.

Conclusions
1.  The Italian Cold Fusion experiment is yet another application of QED induced radiation in physics over the past century. Contrary to classical physics, QM forbids nanostructures to conserve absorbed EM energy by an increase in temperature. Instead, conservation proceeds by the creation of QED photons inside the nanostructure having a frequency at its TIR resonance, typically beyond the UV.

2. QM places no limit to the number of QED photons that may accumulate under the TIR confinement of NPs. Upon reaching the 2.6 MeV/atom necessary to transmute 62 Ni to 63 Cu, fusion of Ni atoms may be considered to occur. Hydrogen atoms in contact with the NP surface also fuse, but how this occurs requires further study.

3. LENR and catalysts have nothing to do with the observed 12,400 W output of the Italian Cold Fusion reactor. The Ni-H reactions are truly nuclear fusion, and claims of net power generation by Rossi and Focardi are valid. But like conventional nuclear fusion, the commercialization of the reactors for public use should clearly state the radiation dangers.

4.  The similarity of the Black Light Power and Italian Cold Fusion reactors suggests the same QED physics should also apply. But again, radiation dangers should be included in any commercialization for public use.

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About QED Indcued EM Radiation: Classically, absorbed EM energy is conserved by an increase in temperature. But at the nanoscale, temperature increases are forbidden by quantum mechanics. QED radiation explains how absorbed EM energy is conserved at the nanoscale by the emission of nonthermal EM radiation.