Timeline for Has proton-proton fusion ever been seriously considered for an artificial fusion reactor?
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9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 22, 2019 at 14:51 | answer | added | Maury Markowitz | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 15:56 | comment | added | Jon Custer | I can do D-T fusion all day (or all week) in the lab with fairly modest equipment. To quote Adelberger (Solar fusion cross sections, Rev. Mod. Phys. 70(4) 1265-1291 (1998)) - "... the rate for the fundamental $p+p$ -> $^{2}D + e^{+} + \nu_{e}$ reaction is too small to be measured in the laboratory. Instead, the cross section for the $p-p$ reaction must be calculated from standard weak-interaction theory." That is, in the last 100 years of nuclear physics experiments, we haven't been able to experimentally see $p-p$ reactions on Earth. | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 13:42 | comment | added | dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten | I would take the position that noting the difference in cross-sections is exactly what "serious consideration" means. That is how you winnow design possibilities and decide where to spend you effort. Some options are so obviously hard that they are not worth your precious time. If you think it should mean something else perhaps you could elaborate on exactly what that is. Are you asking if anyone has ever poured years of effort and hundreds of pages into that rat hole? | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 8:07 | comment | added | anna v | @ikrase how can you go around a crossection? the sun does it with a lot of protons and a lot of energy in the plasma space.com/26956-proton-fusion-sun-power-source-infographic.html | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 6:07 | comment | added | ikrase | @JohnRennie I'm perfectly aware that it has a minuscule cross section, but that doesn't mean nobody has ever seriously considered it or thought that there might be a way around the cross section problems. | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 5:58 | comment | added | John Rennie | The p-p fusion has $10^{26}$ times smaller cross section than the d-t fusion. That's why it has never been seriously considered for a artificial reactor. Any such reactor would yield a ridiculously small amount of energy. | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 5:52 | comment | added | ikrase | It is definitely worthwhile background information, but that doesn't cover artificial equipment at all, which seems relevant given that our research reactors exceed the sun in some parameters. | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 5:49 | comment | added | John Rennie | It's not exactly a duplicate, but this is addressed by the answers to How much faster is the fusion we make on earth compared to the fusion that happens in the sun?. Specifically note the comment in my answer: The p-p fusion is about $10^{26}$ times slower than the D-T fusion. | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 5:32 | history | asked | ikrase | CC BY-SA 4.0 |