Another Tech Thread, About Energy

[Amorphous]

[url=http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=409853]The Artificial Sun[/url]

I think this is quite the amazing accomplishment, especially once it is complete. This could solve so many fuel problem and destroy so much pollution if implemented everywhere.

At the moment I am all for this.

Opinions?

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.

It's a fascinating idea, I had always thought nuclear fusion was still completely theoretical in nature but it would seem I was wrong. If this does actually work out exactly as planned, then all those giant oil companies had better pack their bags because fossil fuel is about to become a thing of the past. Still creating and maintaining those kinds of facilities is going to require massive investment, so it is conceivable that many of these corporations may simply going into partnership with prospective governments as investors. Investors aside, we may be looking at the next great leap in human technological development, as I recall matter/anti-matter annihilation technology is also moving from the drawing board to the lab.[/SIZE]

[Albert Flasher]

[COLOR=Sienna][FONT=Times New Roman]Jeez, what is it with scientests ripping off movies these days... first the camo-cloak-thingie rips of James Bond, now these guys rip off Dr. Octopus...[/FONT][/COLOR]

[ForgottenRaider]

Mmm I agree, Q should sue for royalties...Seriously!

Unfortunately this is really a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant]white elephant[/url] (clicky!) and on top of that it has the unfortunate side effect that if they lose containment (and there is a lot of debate on what this containment is) that they can remove a sizable chunk from the earth (Chernobyl future bomb style).

[Delta]

[COLOR=#790A43][SIZE=1][QUOTE]After nuclear fusion, the deuterium extracted from one liter of sea water will produce energy equivalent to 300 liters of gasoline. [/QUOTE] If only processing it in temperatures exceeding a hundred million ºC's costs less than three hundred liters of gasoline (~$650, yes?)...

I really, sincerely hope that this arificial sun will work. This is probably the closest we've got to clean, renewable energy: if it were possible to process all the water from all the oceans, energy equivalent to some 411 sextillion(x10^21) liters of gasoline can be produced. That would translate to 2.59 sextillion barrels or 42 trillion(x10^12) years worth of petroleum extracted in 2004.

Wow.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Drix D'Zanth]

My college sends a group of physical chemists and physicists to Cadarache, France each summer to visit the construction site of ITER; one of the fusion assemblies mentioned in the article that you have provided. The idea behind fusion is a simple one with very complex implications. Basically fusion involves two isotopes of Hydrogen: deutronium and tridium, colliding to form a helium atom and an extremely high-energy neutron. Because of the first law of thermodynamics, there is a HUGE exothermic release of energy when you can overcome the magnetic forces repelling these two isotopes. This large amount of energy will be captured in water by convection and used to generate massive amounts of usable energy.

[quote name='Raya][COLOR=#790A43][SIZE=1] If only processing it in temperatures exceeding a hundred million ºC's costs less than three hundred liters of gasoline (~$650, yes?)... [/SIZE'][/COLOR][/quote]

This is only partially true. The housing (china may be the first to actually attempt the reaction, but not build the reactor) of this reaction is a specially designed magnetic ?seal? that will contain the plasma required to initiate the reaction itself. The reason you need such a large magnetic field is because if the reaction were to burst from it somehow, the entire facility would melt in the blink of an eye. If the casing were to fail at all, a blast far greater than we?ve ever seen would atomize everything in the surrounding area.

I digress; the housing is very very expensive. The tridium is VERY difficult to acquire, but we only need a little (and unlike what Spiderman 2 might say, tridium is a gas). deutronium is all we need to sustain the reaction. deutronium is easy to acquire (we have lots of it in lab). One of the easiest ways to acquire it is through water (why not? For every one water molecule, there are 2 ?possible? deutronium molecules). That?s why it seems so cheap.

[QUOTE=Raya][COLOR=#790A43][SIZE=1]
I really, sincerely hope that this arificial sun will work. This is probably the closest we've got to clean, renewable energy: if it were possible to process all the water from all the oceans, energy equivalent to some 411 sextillion(x10^21) liters of gasoline can be produced. That would translate to 2.59 sextillion barrels or 42 trillion(x10^12) years worth of petroleum extracted in 2004.

Wow.[/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

That?s a fun calculation, but you forgot to subtract the energy required to actually [i]get[/i] the water into a system where we can extract deutronium. Not only that, we can (in the lab) increase the likelihood of acquiring deutronium in a far more efficient fashion than water extraction. Basically, where there is hydrogen, there?s a possibility for deutronium.

This device isn?t meant to run the reaction for long. ITER, a larger, more advanced reactor is to run the reaction for 500 seconds total. However, the energy that can be acquired from that reaction is to be substantial.
Needless to say, if this is a success, it will be the first step on the pathway to the bankruptcy of the Middle East. Not only that, but the sudden decline in oil demand will free up oil for a far more important use: plastics. There are more effective means of acquiring energy besides fusion (for instance, matter-antimatter collision is an effective means of releasing energy a la e=mc^2), but I can see why this is very exciting. But I hope we recognize the implications of the commercialization of this technology. Those companies developing it? will become the richest in the world. Kinda makes you want to go into physical sciences, yeah?

So no, if this is successful it is most definately [b]not[/b] a white elephant.