Bart Massey ([email removed]) writes:
> I'm not sure exactly what the objection is here. As you know,
> the primary solar fusion reaction involves purely light
> hydrogen. The key observation is that a hydrogen *atom is* a
> neutron -- QUESTION: what's the difference between a
> proton-electron pair and a neutron? ANSWER: a mass defect and
> a bunch of empty space. A free neutron will eventually decay
> into a proton and electron, and release a tiny bit of energy.
> If the objection is that the barrier potential to overcome to
> squeeze a p-e pair into a neutron is very large, I'll concede
> this, but I've always assumed they could just do it, at least
> by TL14 or so...
You're right, and I thought about that after I mailed my last
post. Of course, that means that if (hopefully when) the GDW
folks decide to make the plant output realistic, they should
subtract the energy needed to create the neutrons from the
energy output of the power plant. Also, fusion power plants
when first introduced would likely not have this ability, and
would have to use heavy hydrogen as I suggested. Also, a
plant fusing only heavy hydrogen would have a higher energy
yield than one fusing normal hydrogen (I don't know what the
overall difference is -- I don't have the numbers handy).
This does not invalidate my suggestions, though. The p-e pair
combination is simply a way of "donating" neutrons that I said
would be needed to fuse normal hydrogen. Also, it might NOT
be feasible to duplicate this inside of a power plant. It
still might be easier to use another means to donate neutrons
to the hydrogen before fusing it.
By the way, where does the electron come from? I was under the
impression that the Sun, at least the part that is fusing, is
very positively ionic. If this is so, then where are the
electrons coming from? Is there another form of mass decay
taking place? Or is this simply one of the means by which the
Sun regulates its rate of fusion? Or am I simply misinformed?
Jerry Williams ([email removed])