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A Few Questions and Answers with Roger Stringham by Steven Krivit, July 21, 2004
How did you get the idea to apply sonic energy to trigger the cold fusion effect?
I had some years of experience using cavitation in photochemical synthesis. It was in March of 1989 when Fleischmann and Pons announced their work. I had a small laboratory, R & R Research, using the cavitation bubble as a unique research tool. I also had in the lab heavy water, palladium foils and piezo driven reactors. Within a day I could see if the cavitation energy would produce excess heat. It seemed to me that cavitation was just as viable as the electrochemical method used by Fleischmann and Pons. The first experiments were clumsy but intriguing and particularly evident was the condition of the foil after exposure to cavitating heavy water. The metal target had melted spots and was discolored. I was hooked.
What happened then?
I worked with Bill Snook who did the machining for me and Steve Wolff also helped with some experiments. I engaged patent attorneys Hugh Finley and Howard Peters to file for a US patent in 1990. At that time I also contacted Dick Raymond and Larry Klein and we formed a small group interested in promoting this new idea for producing energy - an alternate energy source without CO2 and radiation.
In 1992 I talked to Tom Passell, who funded SRI's cold fusion work and told him that I was using cavitation to produce excess heat. He told Russ George, Scott Chubb and a few others. George and Chubb immediately called me and I scheduled a meeting with him at Buck's restaurant in Woodside, Calif where I first introduced George to cavitation induced fusion. About six months later a group was formed and we appointed Dick Raymond president of EQuest Sciences. I held the majority of the stock along with Dick Raymond, Larry Klein, Steve Wolf, Russ George, and Tom Benson. George later assumed the role of spokesman and contact person for Equest. Unfortunately, a lot of personality conflicts arose and we ended up shutting down Equest and moving in different directions.
The following quote of you comes from Gene Mallove's video documentary, "Cold Fusion: Fire From Water:"
"Well this is a cavitation process going on in the bubble, and the acoustic energy is absorbed by the liquid and there is a certain point at which it creates small voids which actually grow and then collapse very rapidly. And that is the cavitation idea. The temperatures that are required to create these ejecta sites are at least the melting point of the metal, and it looks like we are actually in the vapor phase which is gaseous metal. This amounts to liquid metal, 1600 degrees Kelvin, and for titanium higher. For the vaporous state, several thousand degrees higher than that."
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Can you explain what "eject sites" are?
Ejecta sites, are observed on the cavitation exposed target foil surface via SEM (scanning electron microscope) analysis. They are micro-volcanic eruptions initiated from below the target lattice surface. The heat from one or more D-D fusion events dissipates heat as a heat pulse, and on reaching the surface, expels gaseous target metal into the heavy water leaving behind a volcano-like vent site on the surface of the target metal. There are several SEM photos of vent sites in the ICCF8 Proceedings (May 2000) page 299. The target ejecta sites result from the plasma implantation and the subsequent D-D fusion a pico-second later, all starting from the collapse of a cavitation bubble.
How much energy is applied to create the reported effects?
The energy required can vary from 1 to 20 watts depending on the size of the reactor. Remember, the collapse of the cavitation increases the energy density a million fold.
Didn't the U.S. Navy notice some very high temperatures with acoustic cavitation, in fact, wasn't it melting metal on their ships' propellers?
The Navy has had an interest in reducing the effect of cavitation damage and the reduction of propeller cavitation in the ship detection process.
In terms of potential usefulness, how would you compare your work to that of the hot fusion work with deuterated acetone, without metal targets, also known as acoustic inertial confinement fusion?
At this point our work and technology is at the door of being a practical device as a power-mutiplier as in a water heater device. The acetone cavitation device is not there yet.
Side view of single unit 1.6 Mhz piezo driven cold fusion reactor.
Top view of single unit 1.6 Mhz piezo driven cold fusion reactor.
Top view of 4-gang unit 1.6 Mhz piezo driven cold fusion reactor.
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