Cold Fusion is a Low-Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) occurring at near room temperature and pressure using relatively simple and low-energy-input devices to produce excess energy. When Albert Einstein devised his now famous formula E=mc² he realized that a tiny amount of mass could produce extraordinary amounts of energy, thereby mimicking the sun’s energy production mechanism of fusion. Some 40 years later, scientists began attempting “hot” fusion, which requires extreme temperatures and pressures found inside stars. This research is still underway. In the 1980’s, scientists also began investigating “cold” fusion, which unlike the Sun’s “hot” fusion, does not require extreme temperature and pressure to achieve.

Cold fusion appears to be the fusion, or combining of nuclei of a naturally found hydrogen isotope called Deuterium. This fusing of Deuterium results in the release of excess heat. The major product of this reaction is an isotope of helium called helium-4 which is harmless and found throughout nature. One helium-4 nucleus is produced from the fusion of two Deuterium nuclei, although this appears to occur as a “many-body process” instead of “hot” fusion, where two isolated Deuterium nuclei fuse. Helium-4 nucleus is slightly less massive than the two Deuterium nuclei that combined to form it, so the difference in mass is converted to energy in the form of heat.

While cold fusion creates no dangerous by-products, it is, nevertheless often confused with both the “hot” fusion process found inside stars, and nuclear fission, the splitting of heavy nuclei used in atomic weapons and mainstream nuclear power. A nuclear fission reaction leaves behind harmful radioactive waste products. These misconceptions are just a few of the uphill battles that cold fusion researchers have had to face in their pursuit for a safe and plentiful source of new energy.