Last year, Andrea Rossi’s energy catalyzer, or E-Cat, created buzz as it claims to present an alternative energy source that is environmentally clean and free. The E-Cat is a cold fusion device that fuses hydrogen atoms with nickel to transform it into copper. The resulting fusion reaction creates heat that will drive a turbine, which would then generate electricity. Andrea Rossi and physicist Sergio Focardi demonstrated the device last October and the E-Cat produced an average of 470 kilowatts for more than five hours.

During our research on Rossi’s Energy Catalyzer, we came across the “acoustic inertial confinement” or sound drive fusion developed by Impuse Devices Inc., based in California. The company uses the process of acoustic cavitation, the use of acoustic field to expand and collapse tiny bubbles to generate hot temperatures. As the bubbles shrink, the pressure and temperature of the vapor increase, reaching their maximum upon bubble collapse. The temperature and pressure of the gas inside the cavities can exceed temperatures on the surface of the sun.