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Revision as of 04:33, 31 July 2003 by Roadrunner (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Muon-catalyzed fusion is a process that allows fusion at room temperature. Although it does allow for fusion, it does not currently provide anywhere close to breakeven energy. It is sometimes known as cold fusion although this term is no longer often used as it can create confusion with other scientifically unestablished forms of room temperature fusion.
In muon-catalyzed fusion, deterium and tritium nuclei from atoms with muons which are essentially heavy electrons. This orbits of the muons are very close to the nuclei and shield the positive charge of the nuclei so that they can come close enough to fuse.
The main problem with muon-catalyzed fusion is that muons are unstable, and hence there needs to be means of producing muons and muons must be arranged to catalyze as many reactions as possible before decaying.