3 ms·
> I’m betting almost all the extra heating is just due to the injected protons depositing energy And their team over at HPEPL / Georgia Institute of Technology
by ricardobeat 3y ago
> I’m betting almost all the extra heating is just due to the injected protons depositing energy
And their team over at HPEPL / Georgia Institute of Technology wouldn’t have noticed that basic fact because…?
If simply injecting tiny amounts of boron (or anything else) into the exhaust to get burnt improved performance by 50% this would have been ubiquitous by now. Afterburners were invented in the 1940s after all.
- sidewndr46 3y agoIt does work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_fuel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_fuel
- pfdietz 3y agoThis is a completely different thing.
- pfdietz 3y ago> And their team over at HPEPL / Georgia Institute of Technology wouldn’t have noticed that basic fact because…? Who says they didn't notice? Nowhere did they say the heating was due to fusion. Read carefully what they wrote, not what they left unstated and allowed you to wishfully assume. The heating would not be due to tiny amounts of boron, but rather due to the energetic protons slowing down, depositing energy. This would happen even in the absence of boron or of any nuclear reactions.
- ricardobeat 3y agoQuoting from their website: “This fusion process, like an afterburner in a jet engine, transforms boron into high-energy carbon, which rapidly decays into three alpha particles. The result? A remarkable 50% improvement in thrust compared to our FireStar™ Foundation thruster.” “We've witnessed fusion reactions occur in our lab and the result is a 50% jump in thrust performance”
- cryptonector 3y agoThat's not quite the quote we'd like to see.