Can somebody send me pieces of CR-39 plastic, often used to
detect alpha particles, for example from radon. Tracks of alpha
particles stopped in sheets of that material become visible (and
countable) under microscope, after being etched in NaOH. I will
be happy to reimburse you. Please contact me first at
kowalskil@mail.montclair.edu
I just read a research paper on cold fusion and would like
to verify the claim of an enhanced emission of alpha particles.
Looks like a simple experiment to perform ([refereably with a
chemist). By the way, I think that the main experimental issues
in "cold fusion" are:
1) Is the reported "excess heat" real?
2) Can it be due to chemical or physical process which
has nothing to do with changes in atomic nuclei?
3) Can one demonstrate, convincingly, that a nuclear
process (of any kind) is triggered in so-called
"cold fusion" experiments?
There are many new claims about #3 in papers presented
at recent conferences. I have been exposed to three of them.
What else is there beside these three issues? I do not want
to discuss the meaning of the word "real." To me it means
"reproducible" or "not due to" imagination, poor interpretation
of experimental data, improper calibration, etc.
Thirteen years past since Fleischmann and Pons made the
initial announcement of the "excess heat". Why have
questions #1 and #2 not been answered during that time?
Ludwik Kowalski
This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.