<i>&gt; these things are physics rather than chemistry</i><p>The atoms of palladium in the cold fusion experiments don&#x27;t know that they&#x27;re supposed to be doing &quot;chemistry&quot; rather than &quot;physics&quot;. That division is only in our theories, not in reality.<p><i>&gt; (Admittedly molecular bonds distort electron orbitals a little bit, but nothing like the factor of 200 you get from switching them for muons)</i><p>This is a valid concern, but as I understand it, the suggestion is that strong electric or magnetic fields have to be applied in order to induce cold fusion, so we&#x27;re not just talking about the distortion of orbitals from molecular bonds, we&#x27;re talking about the distortion due to strong externally applied fields, which can be much larger.