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Article #7773Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?
From: Henry Spencer
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1989 05:03
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1989 05:03
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In article <8299@csli.STANFORD.EDU> jkl@csli.stanford.edu (John Kallen) writes: >I've been reading the postings about R.T. fusion with interest, and I >am wondering: why are neutrons so undesirable in a nuclear reaction? >Aren't protons and neutrons of the same energies just as bad? Or does >the Coulomb repulsion of a proton by the nucleus play a role here? Uncharged particles in general are much more penetrating, because they interact more weakly with matter. This has several implications, including the need for massive shielding for personnel and electronics. For really high-power applications like fusion rocketry, everything near the engine gets hot, instead of just the engine, due to neutron heating. Neutrons also tend to make the shielding (etc.) radioactive, which adds a nasty waste-disposal problem. Finally, protons can be controlled and bullied around with magnetic fields, which neutrons ignore. -- Welcome to Mars! Your | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology passport and visa, comrade? | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
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Newsgroups: sci.physics,sci.research,sci.space,sci.chem,sci.space.shuttle Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? Message-ID: <1989Mar28.050309.8128@utzoo.uucp> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology References: <290@vlsi.ll.mit.edu> <4380@mtuxo.att.com> <1989Mar25.041342.25786@utzoo.uucp> <8299@csli.STANFORD.EDU> Date: Tue, 28 Mar 89 05:03:09 GMT