Spiderman-Fusion

Group: Adam Wathen, Brian Boone, Dustin Riecke

Brian Boone - Q: 1000 gigawats produced, true or false? A: False, because the nuclear fusion itself runs off electricity therefore it would only produce a small amount of electricity. Q: Is there only 25 pounds of tritium on the planet? A: Tritium is created artificially by irradiation of lithium targets; it is also a by-product of nuclear tests and of the use of nuclear power plants. Indeed, thermonuclear tests have injected "into the atmosphere a quantity of tritium about 100 times greater than natural activity”. If we create 100 times more than what occurs naturally then it’s a possibility that only 25 pounds of naturally occurring tritium exists. However, manmade tritium can be far greater than merely 25 pounds. Q: Is tritium fuel for nuclear fusion? A: Tritium helps all fusion to break an energy barrier by releasing 17.6 MeV which is much more than necessary to break the barrier.

Adam Wathen - 1. What is Fusion?

Fusion is the reaction in which two atoms of hydrogen combine together, or fuse, to form an atom of helium.

2. How does fusion occur? What is the source fuel for fusion?

The atoms of hydrogen (or tritium) must be heated to around 100 million degrees, so they form plasma because they are ionized, and they must have sufficient energy to fuse, and then be held together and/or confined long enough for fusion to occur. The source fuel is tritium/hydrogen.

3. What type of device would it take to create a fusion reaction?

The sun and stars use gravity. On earth it is approached by magnetic confinement, which a strong magnetic field holds the ionized atoms together while they are heated by either microwaves or other sources of energy. They are also held by inertial confinement, where a tiny pellet of frozen hydrogen is compressed and heated by an intense energy beam, such as a laser, very quickly so that fusion happens before the atoms fly apart.

Dustin Riecke -