Sonoluminescence
Sonoluminescence is the emission of short bursts of light from imploding bubbles in a liquid when excited by sound.
Sonoluminescence can occur when a sound wave of sufficient intensity induces a gaseous cavity within a liquid to collapse quickly. This cavity may take the form of a pre-existing bubble, or may be generated through a process known as cavitation. Sonoluminescence in the laboratory can be made to be stable, so that a single bubble will expand and collapse over and over again in a periodic fashion, emitting a burst of light each time it collapses. For this to occur, a standing acoustic wave is set up within a liquid, and the bubble will sit at a pressure anti-node of the standing wave. The frequencies of resonance depend on the shape and size of the container in which the bubble is contained.
Recent experiments (2002, 2005) of R. P. Taleyarkhan, et al., using deuterated acetone show measurements of tritium and neutron output consistent with fusion, but these measurements have not been reproduced outside of the Taleyarkhan lab and remain controversial. Brian Naranjo of the University of California, Los Angeles, has recently completed an analysis of the Taleyarkhan results, claiming that Taleyarkhan had most likely misinterpreted the radioactive decay of standard lab materials for the byproducts of nuclear fusion. In 2008, The Purdue University (where these experiments were performed) stripped R. P. Taleyarkhan of his professorship after accusing him of research misconduct, due to his controversial works on bubble fusion.
Basically the idea of possible nuclear fusion, within the bubble, draws out beliefs that energy can be derived from the reaction, and that this could very well be the solution to our energy crisis, and an infinite source of energy for the human race.
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