In a tokamak fusion reactor fusing hydrogen nuclei what is the shortest duration experiment that successfully fused nuclei.
Is there a database with fusion reactions and their duration.
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
5
-
$\begingroup$ This is unclear. What do you mean by the duration of a fusion reaction? $\endgroup$– Jon CusterCommented May 14, 2017 at 23:38
-
$\begingroup$ Shortest amount of time before the reactor was turned off yet fusion still occurred, @Jon Custer $\endgroup$– PhysicsTinyHugeCommented May 15, 2017 at 0:03
-
1$\begingroup$ So the shortest would be one deuterium meeting one Tritium. $\endgroup$– Jon CusterCommented May 15, 2017 at 0:19
-
$\begingroup$ But how long, in seconds, does it take until this starts to happen from when the tokamak starts, @Jon Custer $\endgroup$– PhysicsTinyHugeCommented May 15, 2017 at 0:35
-
$\begingroup$ I mean what example is there?, @Jon Custer $\endgroup$– PhysicsTinyHugeCommented May 15, 2017 at 0:40
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
I think, this is a misunderstanding of the concept. The fusion does not happen after all deuterons and tritons are ready after some switch-on of the tokamak.
The fusion depends on probability - you can increase a probability by heating the d-t plasma to high temperatures
The more ions, higher temperature, longer time, the more fusions happen. The picture shows that increase of temperature (energy in keV) accelerates the reaction by many orders of magnitude. Basically, one can expect non-zero probability even at room temperature.
So maybe your question was rather on details of operation of tokamak, like how long does it take to heat the plasma to the desired temperature?
