Posted on 07/25/2005 8:33:29 AM PDT by Irontank
A widely criticized effort three years ago to create low-cost tabletop nuclear fusion could gain new support following an experiment at Purdue University.
Taking the basic apparatus used in 2002, two Purdue researchers refined the experiment and published new results that once again seem to prove that nuclear fusion was taking place. If it proves to be real, the new approach might lead to a genuine new source of energy.
An inexpensive, practical method of controlling nuclear fusion could revolutionize energy production, so any hint of a breakthrough in that direction generates high interest among both the technical community and the mainstream media. But hard-headed physicists have grown wary of "fusion in a jar" experiments.
The physics community was lukewarm to n approach to tabletop fusion that originated with Rusi Taleyarkhan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2002. Using acoustic cavitation generated by ultrasound waves in a solution doped with deuterium, Taleyarkhan and his colleagues published results that they considered an airtight case for nuclear fusion. But criticism followed. When Taleyarkhan replied with a follow-up experiment to address those concerns, the reaction was muted.
The Purdue team began its work independently two years ago. "Sonofusion is thermonuclear fusion and is scalable," said Yiban Xu, who performed the experiment with fellow researcher Adam Butt. "However, much research and development needs to be done before reaching so-called energy break-even."
In the language of nuclear fusion researchers, break-even is the point beyond which a reaction produces more energy than it consumes, the minimal requirement for success. Xu, more concerned with proving that any nuclear fusion occurred, cannot say whether the reaction produces energy efficiently.
Xu said a small-scale apparatus like his experimental setup could have other important applications. "Neutrons seed cavitation in the test fluid, and so do the other nuclear particles. Therefore, in principle, cavitation occurrence indicates the presence of radiation activities if appropriate conditions are provided," he said.
Possible applications could be a simple and portable neutron source or a way to generate tritium, a helium isotope produced by the reaction.
Uh, radium does not emit neutrons.
I misremembered the details so sue me.
In unrelated news, scientists have yet to explain how Lake Michigan's shoreline moved so far south over night.
But criticism followed. When Taleyarkhan replied with a follow-up experiment to address those concerns, the reaction was muted.
Oh boy, WHICH REACTION??
Hehehe.
There is NO evidence that he produced any plutonium.
Oh, another detail. He never built a breeder reactor.
I think it's real but I don't believe it is scalable to a level that will produce power. I hosted a talk by Dr. Seth Putterman a year or so back on this very subject. I think it is pretty clear from the neutron flux measurements that fusion is indeed taking place and these devices show much promise as portable neutron sources (think neutron "x-ray") but getting more power out than you put in is a whole other can of worms.
regards,
Not exactly. An exothermic reaction means the reaction gives off heat. A fire is an exothermic reaction. The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. In the case of a fire, the potential energy of something flamable (a spotted owl nest) is converted to heat energy, which is then put to something useful (such as roasting the spotted owl).
We can never get more energy out of a reaction than we put into it. We also can never get as much energy out of a reaction as we put into it because some energy is always lost to friction or is absorbed elsewhere (such as some heat from a fire being absorbed by the oven walls instead of the spotted owl).
Additional energy is lost as the spotted owl feathers flare up brightly, the light accounts for a small amount of the total energy.
I think you need to upgrade your thermodynamic database. Start with throwing out your outdated "Conservation" law and replacing it with the presently accepted one. Then go get the definitions of exothermic and endothermic reactions. OTHOH, just stay ignorant, it makes for great posting.
If that were true, then it would meant that an enormous amount of energy is also pouring into the sun. What is the form of the 'invisible energy' flowing into the sun?
The potential energy of the fuel on which the sun depends. The nuclear fusion converts H to He and gives off an enormous amount of heat and radiation in the process.
Ah so, the sun emits more energy than it absorbs, a very basic exothermic reaction.
Actually, it is a conversion of amss to energy!
amss >>> mass
Just Damn... I mean that's some merit badge project.
The proof of fusion ocurring is that high-energy neutrons are produced (the standard proof with heavy hydrogen isotopes.)
In other words, Tabletop-dangerous-radiation-producing-and-explodable-device might be a more appropriate name.
"It was radioactive as heck," David says, "far greater than at the time of assembly." Then he began to realize that he could be putting himself and others in danger.One of those genius types with Zero common sense.When David's Geiger counter began picking up radiation five doors from his mom's house, he decided that he had "too much radioactive stuff in one place" and began to disassemble the reactor. He hid some of the material in his mother's house, left some in the shed, and packed most of the rest into the trunk of his Pontiac.
The editor was asleep at the wheel. Tritium is a hydrogen isotope that decays into helium-3.
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