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: Fusion reaction rates
Date: Dec 21, 8:50 pm
Poster: Tom Ligon

On Dec 21, 8:50 pm, Tom Ligon wrote:


>3. Our mean free path is just about the radius of the chamber (3-4 inches) so, in theory, only half of the these perfectly created deuterons will make it to the center and then only a tiny fraction of those will hit head on... and then only a tiny fraction of those will hit another deuteron of equal energy (remember, they can hit head on with a deuteron created in the middle of the chamber and nothing will happen.
>

>The fusor we use will give some small fraction of fusions/ head on collision

Richard,

If you are just considering the Rc central focus spot in a fusor you must use the angle-averaged crossection, which is maybe 20% of the head-on crossection, due to the non-head-on collisions. Since the Rc region has the highest density it is very important,

BUT ...

Anywhere inside the inner grid but outside the Rc area the ions are streaming radially, moving as fast as they are gonna get, and collisions are predominantly head-on. The density is low but the volume is usually much greater than the Rc volume, and the crossection is higher. The contributions of head on collisions inside the inner grid but outside Rc is not insignificant.

Tom