Fusion Message Board

In this space, visitors are invited to post any comments, questions, or skeptical observations about Philo T. Farnsworth's contributions to the field of Nuclear Fusion research.

Subject: Re: Minimum fusion energy? Voltage?
Date: Aug 17, 1:26 pm
Poster: Jones Beene

On Aug 17, 1:26 pm, Jones Beene wrote:

Thanks for the excellent information, Richard.

Just a couple of quick questions that I have been wondering about for some time:
>We make a tritium atom in 50% of all the successful fusions. This will, over time spike our reactions slightly to burn in D-T mode.

Why is the spike from D-T only slight? As the cross section for D-T is many times higher than D-D, it would seem that all of the T that is generated should burn rather quickly - unless it excapes from the plasma permanently.

Since the T created from the reaction would carry off about a quarter of the total energy, perhaps it is energetic enough to escape the electrostatic confinement and be be entrained in the reactor walls? If so, a reactor that has been in operation for some time should have a radiation profile due to the beta decay of T, although it would certainly be small.

What is the total accumulated time for neutron production on your fusor? I believe I remember reading that you have measured one of your fusors for radioactivity but found none- were you looking specifically for beta decay?

> This, theoretically seems to increase in a roughly linear manner up to about 300,000 volts applied to our chamber. Actually it should go up much more rapidly than this due to the nature of the IEC device!

What is the highest voltage that you have ventured or planned? From the little work that I have done with my paired Tesla coils, I know that arcing becomes very significant above 50K volts. BTW, my two coils are counterwound and can give a total potential of well over 500,000 volts, but I don't see any way to safely channel that into a fusor.

Regards,
Jones