Reply #11: Sound and fury

[RafterMan]

signifying nothing.

You dismissed the book out of hand because the preface was written by a mere science fiction author. You are attacking the reasoner, not the reasoning. Further, you can duck and dodge and say denigrating him as a sci-fi author is not the same as denigrating him as a racist, but I know a sharp elbow when I see one.

On the main point, since you clearly did not read the piece, I will quote it for you:

You say: "Only then might it be possible to make claims about fusion and the need to claim the existence of a previously unobserved type of fusion, those occurring without either gamma emissions at 0.82 MeV and 2.45 MeV neutrons and helium-3, or those occurring with the emission of 3 MeV protons and 1 MeV tritium nuclei, or those involving 23.5 Mev gamma rays and Helium-4 nuclei."

"Some of the scepticism appeared valid: If Drs. Pons and Fleischmann had indeed produced nuclear fusion, they should have been dead! For where are the neutrons and gamma rays, the lethal emissions such a reaction should produce? Where are the nuclear "ashes" of tritium and helium? Well, later experiments confirmed the presence of tritium, which can result only from a nuclear reaction, though in quantities far too small to account for the energy liberated. However, numerous experiments also demonstrated findings of helium-4 in amounts which do account for the energy liberated. This is a monumental achievement in the understanding of cold fusion."

Is it true? I don't know, I haven't sorted through all of the post-P/F experiments. But I do know that someone who has followed them -- even a science fiction author -- might be able to point out developments of which I was unaware.