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: Two easy fusions
Date: May 27, 09:21 am
Poster: Richard HullOn May 27, 09:21 am, Richard Hull wrote:
The amateur scinetist/builder should only be concerned with two fusion reactions..........the easy ones. Only one of these is really available to the amateur.
The easiest fusion reaction is the Tritium Deuterium reaction. It has a very high cross section and can become experimentally significant at energies of only 10-15KV!!
The amateur, however, cannot obtain tritium.
Deuterium can be made to fuse with deuterium at energies beginning in the 20Kev range. At 40 kev the reaction is proceeding nicely. Above this level, the neutron and X-ray output radiation from a fusor can become very dangerous!! Special shielding is demanded at voltage gradients between the cathode and anodes over 30KV. Very heavy shielding is needed over 50kv.
All other fusion reactions require much higher energies and therefore many, many, more dollars to actually facilitate.
The amateur efforts should concentrate on the D-D reaction only!!!
It is nice to note that some tritium production will occur in a working D-D fusor (approximately 50% of all fusions result in a tritium atom being produced). Then enhanced D-T fusion will also contribute to the reaction as it proceeeds! We literally will make our own tritium in a working D-D fusor!
Richard Hull