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: Stripping
Date: Mar 18, 1:00 pm
Poster: Richard Hull

On Mar 18, 1:00 pm, Richard Hull wrote:

STRIPPING!

I thought that would wake you guys up!

Scott Little and I have discussed the possibility of stripping in our fusors. I was actually made privy to this process about 1 year ago in general discussions with Jock Fuggett a nuclear engineer friend of mine. I also read up on the process in "Neutron Physics" by Wurtz.

Stripping, in fusors or any place where you are likely to have deuterons bumping into one another is a normal and accepted process. Not all deuterons are going to be at fusion energy over the enitre volume of the chamber or necessarily collide head on even in the focus of the IEC device! When this happens, the possibility of stripping occurs.

In this process the deuteron or deuterons gently yield their neutron up as a low energy or even thermal neutron due to a less that optimum angle of impact if at full fusion energy or from a head on or solid impact at energy levels where the summed energy of the particles is not enough to produce a fusion.

Thus, in a fusor at low power such as ours especially in the 10-20KV class where the deuterons max collisional energy is in the 20-40kev region, (200million to 4000million degrees kelvin), we can do fusion, but only with those deuterons which are fortunate enough to impact at just the right angles. All other impacts within yet another critical angle range will have a high likely hood of stripping. Below even this level, (very shallow angle stuff) we get super fast deuterons, slow deuterons, slow and fast neutrals, slow and fast metastables, etc.

It is a crap shoot!!

Only fusion will produce tritium!

stripping may produce as yet un-imagined complications ranging from activation of the interior of the chamber to interference with neutron measurments. A lot more study must be done here.

In general, I believe that the hotest strip should not produce a neutron of energy as great as the total collisional energy. I may be wrong here as the binding energy has to go somewhere.

If stripping can produce fast neuts, our counting effort may be in trouble. If not, counting should be a solid indicator of real fusion, but neutron activation of the chamber walls with thermal neuts might fake out a tritium signature.

More instrumentation might assist here but is well beyond my budget at present. Ideally, an RGA, (residual gas analyzer would be nice and a calibrated neutron sprectrometer would be real nice, but both cost thousands!

One thing is sure, we are stripping and we are fusing by virtue of simple calclation, measurement and design! However, how much of what and which is a matter for yet more investigation.

One thing..........higher voltages will gaurantee both more fusion and stripping in a collisional device.

Richard Hull