3 ms·

There are multiple potential fusion reactions, duterium and tritium like in our home star The Sun is the most researched. There is also research into ones with

There are multiple potential fusion reactions, duterium and tritium like in our home star The Sun is the most researched. There is also research into ones with Lithium and other left side elements. Finally the one I think has the best future is aneutronic fusion with Boron11 plus hydrogen, it gives off three alpha particles which can be converted directly to electricity. the leading model is Field Reversed Fusion. https://spectrum.ieee.org/aneutronic-fusion https://spectrum.ieee.org/aneutronic-fusion

pfdietz 1y ago
> duterium and tritium like in our home star The Sun That is not what is being fused in the Sun.
- Projectiboga 1y ago
  True, I didn't state that clearly. What I meant was our sun fuses Hydrogen, whereas I feel Aneutronic fusion using Boron-11 will be better here on earth. From, https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Nuclear_fusion_in_the_Sun#:~:text=The%20specific%20type%20of%20fusion,and%20are%20turned%20into%20helium. https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Nuclear_fusion_in_th... The overall process of proton-proton fusion within the Sun can be broken down into several simple steps. A visual representation of this process is shown in Figure 1. The steps are:[4] Two protons within the Sun fuse. Most of the time the pair breaks apart again, but sometimes one of the protons transforms into a neutron via the weak nuclear force. Along with the transformation into a neutron, a positron and neutrino are formed. This resulting proton-neutron pair that forms sometimes is known as deuterium. A third proton collides with the formed deuterium. This collision results in the formation of a helium-3 nucleus and a gamma ray. These gamma rays work their way out from the core of the Sun and are released as sunlight. Two helium-3 nuclei collide, creating a helium-4 nucleus plus two extra protons that escape as two hydrogen. Technically, a beryllium-6 nuclei forms first but is unstable and thus disintegrates into the helium-4 nucleus. The final helium-4 atom has less mass than the original 4 protons that came together (see E=mc2). Because of this, their combination results in an excess of energy being released in the form of heat and light that exits the Sun, given by the mass-energy equivalence. To exit the Sun, this energy must travel through many layers to the photosphere before it can actually emerge into space as sunlight. Since this proton-proton chain happens frequently - 9.2 x 1037 times per second - there is a significant release of energy.[3] Of all of the mass that undergoes this fusion process, only about 0.7% of it is turned into energy. Although this seems like a small amount of mass, this is equal to 4.26 million metric tonnes of matter being converted to energy per second.[3] Using the mass-energy equivalence, we find that this 4.26 million metric tonnes of matter is equal to about 3.8 x 1026 joules of energy released per second!

pfdietz 1y ago

> duterium and tritium like in our home star The Sun That is not what is being fused in the Sun.

Projectiboga 1y ago
True, I didn't state that clearly. What I meant was our sun fuses Hydrogen, whereas I feel Aneutronic fusion using Boron-11 will be better here on earth. From, https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Nuclear_fusion_in_the_Sun#:~:text=The%20specific%20type%20of%20fusion,and%20are%20turned%20into%20helium. https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Nuclear_fusion_in_th... The overall process of proton-proton fusion within the Sun can be broken down into several simple steps. A visual representation of this process is shown in Figure 1. The steps are:[4] Two protons within the Sun fuse. Most of the time the pair breaks apart again, but sometimes one of the protons transforms into a neutron via the weak nuclear force. Along with the transformation into a neutron, a positron and neutrino are formed. This resulting proton-neutron pair that forms sometimes is known as deuterium. A third proton collides with the formed deuterium. This collision results in the formation of a helium-3 nucleus and a gamma ray. These gamma rays work their way out from the core of the Sun and are released as sunlight. Two helium-3 nuclei collide, creating a helium-4 nucleus plus two extra protons that escape as two hydrogen. Technically, a beryllium-6 nuclei forms first but is unstable and thus disintegrates into the helium-4 nucleus. The final helium-4 atom has less mass than the original 4 protons that came together (see E=mc2). Because of this, their combination results in an excess of energy being released in the form of heat and light that exits the Sun, given by the mass-energy equivalence. To exit the Sun, this energy must travel through many layers to the photosphere before it can actually emerge into space as sunlight. Since this proton-proton chain happens frequently - 9.2 x 1037 times per second - there is a significant release of energy.[3] Of all of the mass that undergoes this fusion process, only about 0.7% of it is turned into energy. Although this seems like a small amount of mass, this is equal to 4.26 million metric tonnes of matter being converted to energy per second.[3] Using the mass-energy equivalence, we find that this 4.26 million metric tonnes of matter is equal to about 3.8 x 1026 joules of energy released per second!