Fusion Propulsion

Consider the reaction;


p + 11B --- 3 4He + 8.54 MeV


It requires that the protium and boron-11 be united with an energy of
123 KeV.

Basically, take some Boron-11 toss it in the air, and hit it dead
center with a proton travelling at 5 km/sec. Out will fly 3 Helium-4
nucleii at 12,000 km/sec!

I envision a nano-structured propulsive skin that consists of a layer
of water, a nanoscale hydrogen processing surface that electrolyzes
the water and ionizes the hydrogen, leaving oxygen gas. Then there's
a 160 KV accelerator gap that accelerates the protons to the needed
speed of 5 km/sec injecting them into the fusion system.

The protons enter a photonic-like crystal to control the flow of
particles giving precise control to the desired collision with the
Boron-11. These crystal rods - which have a nanotube like structure
at their center, penetrate a boron layer.

Another nanoscale surface processes the Boron-11 and ejects atoms one
at a time, injecting them at 0.5 km/sec into the same tube.

Despite their high speed along the length of the tube, the nanotube
structure reduces their temperature relative to one another.
Basically, their centers are co-located to within 0.01 angstroms
despite their high closing speed along the length of the tube.

Also, strong electret based fields along the length of the nanotube
like structgure orient the spin of the nuclei so that when the two
nucleii interact, the plane of high probability decay is well defined
and the directions of the emitted particles are controlled..
Nanostructures -again similar to photonic crystals- accept these
particles and redirect their energy so they are all collimated with
very little energy loss while imparting momentum to the entire
structure.

Imagine a 10 cm x 10 cm panel 10 cm thick. There is a 2.33 cm thick
layer of water massing 233 grams capable of producing. 25.8 grams. A
3 cm thick layer of boron-11 penetrated with nanoscale tubes every
micrometer, contains 284 grams of boron-11. The rest of the nanoscale
structure masses 1 kg and carries out the processes on a nanoscale
just described. The final surface has a beam of highly collimated
alpha particles travelling at 12,000 km/sec..

At peak power output the accelerator is 40 MW and it produces a jet
with a 2.3 GW power rating producing 35 kg of thrust across 100 sq cm
- at this level of thrust the system operates 10,000 seconds.

A vehicle with a propulsive skin totalling 320 sq m and weighing
14,000 kg can pull over 8 gees at full thrust. At 1 gee it can
operate 1 day. At 1/10th gee it can operate over a week and fly
throughout the inner solar system. At 1/100th gee the vehicle can
operate 80 days and span the solar system.

In an atmosphere it can use the alpha stream to heat the air it finds
and use it as a working fluid in a combustionless jet - operating at
very low power levels. Thus the vehicle operates like a vtol fighter
in the atmospheres of Earth, Mars, Venus, the outer planets, and moons
with atmospheres.

The oxygen produced by the separation of oxygen and hydrogen from
water is sufficient to support a crew of 6 even at 1/200th gee. A
small quanity of hydrogen is cycled through fuel cells to recreate
water, to power the cabin systems. Spare oxygen is dumped for
evaprative cooling.

Propusive systems like this produced in quantity, would sell for about
$100 per square meter - about $32,000 - if they are to be used as
commonly as automobiles. This means that a square cm costs a penny.
Since 100 sq cm produces over 2GW this means 1 sq cm produces 20
MW!!! A sq mm producs 200 kW!!! And 100 of them cost a penny!!! At
1/1000th output each sq mm produces 2kW - enough to run a house - and
last 1 million seconds - or 11.6 days. A penny pack would power a
home for 3 years!!! Of course, they'd sell for more than a hundred
for a penny.

The 8.54 MeV alpha particle could easily be converted to electrical
power. A 10 cm nanotube like structure that the collimated alpha
particles enter is equipped with structured electric fields that cause
the particles to wiggle. And the wiggler changes spacing as the alpha
particles slow, so that a constant output is produced. A short
segment of material exists at the exhaust plane of the propulsive skin
described earlier to extract power for the 160 KeV injector. In power
applications this is extended to extract all the kinetic energy from
the alpha particles. This results in a powerful IR laser beam
operating at 1100 nm. This laser beam falls on a bandgap matched
Silicon PV device 1 sq mm in area. 2 kW per sq mm is 20,000x solar
intensity. 400 junctions operate in series reducing parasitic heating
16,000x - conversion efficiency is 98% - which means 40 W thermal is
generated for a 2 kW power cell. The PV and power handling equipment
costs 1/10th cent per cell. So, for power application you only get 9
per penny.

Since 1,100 nm is shortwave IR energy, letting the IR energy fall on a
hollow tapered rod of tungten will provide radiant heat - and
depending on surface area (length and diameter of rod) and power level
incandescent lighting.

Power output ranges over 6 orders of magnitude by varying injection
rates from 1,000 per second to 1 billion per second - across each sq
mm. So power output ranges from 2 kW to 2 milliwatts -Longevity
ranges from 11.6 days to 3,000 years for each 5 cm long rod.

A 1 sq cm collection consisting of 100 units 15 cm long costing 11
cents can power a 285 hp electric automobile for two weeks or more
depending on average power rating.

Clearly technology like this could remake life on Earth. Small
appliances could provide energy for every toy, appliance, electronic
device, vehicle, home, office, factory, equipment, on demand.

Every kg of boron produces the equivalent of 11,000 bbls of oil worth
of energy. The world would need 20 kg of boron a day to meet ALL of
its energy needs. The world produces 421,284.8 kg of boron-11 each
day. So, there is plenty of boron-11 to go around. Everyone
consuming energy at current US per capita rate would increase
consumption to 220 kg boron per day. Everyone having their own
personal VTOL spaceship in their garage to fly around the world in
minutes, to the moon in hours and to Mars in days, would increase
boron consumption to about 4,000 kg per day - or about 1% of current
production.

Global economic output is approximately $65 trillion per year and
energy consumption is about $1.8 trillion per year. Increasing this
100 fold implies energy consumption of $180 trillion per year and a
human economy of $1.3 quadrillion per year. At a selling price of 10
penny per watt - an today's consumption of 16 TW - implies $1.6
trillion in infrastructure - a disposable system that lasted about a
year is implied by these numbers. Growing to 100x this figure.

With an economic growth rate of 7% per year, a 100 fold increase in
economic activity would take;

LN(100)/LN(1.07) = 68.06 years

So, by 2075 AD starting today

To reach the current per capita level of the average American requires

LN(11)/LN(1.07) = 35.44 years

Or 2042.

Since population growth rate is inversely proportional to per capita
income, and since the US today has a negative population growth rate
(not counting immigration) we can estimate global population by
assuming it is today's rate until US per capita income is reached.
This step function will over-estimate the total, so we divide the
increase by two as a first-order approximation, so here goes;


Global population today is 6.52 billion and growth rate is 1.14% per
year. So,

Population estimate at ZPG = 6.52e+9 * (1.0114)^(35.44)
= 9.74e+9

This is an increase of 3.22 billion. Dividing this by two obtains
1.61 billion increase. Thus by 2042 given development and broad use
of this technology to bring about a 7% growth rate each year (nearly
doubling today's economic growth rate) population would stabilize at
8.13 billion people.

Delays in implementation increases population and dlays the point in
time ZPG is reached. But generally 10 billion people max by 2050 with
everyone at current US per capita income is a worthy and achievable
target for today's and future industrialists

Thrown into the bargain is the ability to travel throughout the world
and the solar system with the same ease the average American travels
across North America.

Williamknowsbest wrote:
Consider the reaction;


p + 11B --- 3 4He + 8.54 MeV


It requires that the protium and boron-11 be united with an energy of
123 KeV.

Basically, take some Boron-11 toss it in the air, and hit it dead
center with a proton travelling at 5 km/sec. Out will fly 3 Helium-4
nucleii at 12,000 km/sec!

I envision a nano-structured propulsive skin that consists of a layer
of water, a nanoscale hydrogen processing surface that electrolyzes
the water and ionizes the hydrogen, leaving oxygen gas. Then there's
a 160 KV accelerator gap that accelerates the protons to the needed
speed of 5 km/sec injecting them into the fusion system.


Do you have a working model?

Sylvia.

On Sat, 03 Mar 2007 13:11:27 +1100, Sylvia Else
wrote:

Williamknowsbest wrote:
Consider the reaction;


p + 11B --- 3 4He + 8.54 MeV


It requires that the protium and boron-11 be united with an energy of
123 KeV.

Basically, take some Boron-11 toss it in the air, and hit it dead
center with a proton travelling at 5 km/sec. Out will fly 3 Helium-4
nucleii at 12,000 km/sec!

I envision a nano-structured propulsive skin that consists of a layer
of water, a nanoscale hydrogen processing surface that electrolyzes
the water and ionizes the hydrogen, leaving oxygen gas. Then there's
a 160 KV accelerator gap that accelerates the protons to the needed
speed of 5 km/sec injecting them into the fusion system.


Do you have a working model?

Does the vision of it in his head count?

On Mar 2, 9:11 pm, Sylvia Else wrote:
Williamknowsbest wrote:
Consider the reaction;

p + 11B --- 3 4He + 8.54 MeV

It requires that the protium and boron-11 be united with an energy of
123 KeV.

Basically, take some Boron-11 toss it in the air, and hit it dead
center with a proton travelling at 5 km/sec. Out will fly 3 Helium-4
nucleii at 12,000 km/sec!

I envision a nano-structured propulsive skin that consists of a layer
of water, a nanoscale hydrogen processing surface that electrolyzes
the water and ionizes the hydrogen, leaving oxygen gas. Then there's
a 160 KV accelerator gap that accelerates the protons to the needed
speed of 5 km/sec injecting them into the fusion system.

Do you have a working model?


Haha.. I said I 'envision' what does that suggest? lol.

Bits and pieces darlin' bits and pieces. The Farnsworth fusor
suggested the injector design. Photonic crystals suggested how to
manage the flow of ions so that thermal effects and scattering losses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor
http://ab-initio.mit.edu/photons/tutorial/

Here instead of photonic crystal fibers, we have particulate crystal
fibers - that interact with high speed particles along their length
to reduce the temperature of the particles lateral to the fiber's
length whilst maintaining the bulk of the energy ALONG the fiber
length

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:P...r-from-NRL.jpg

In essence what happens is that the boron-11 nucleus and the proton
are aligned to about 0.01 angrstrom resolution whilst moving at high
velocities relative to one another.

What I have made looks like and x-ray tube with bits and pieces in it.

I have taken an x-ray power supply at 160 KeV and accelerated protons
toward a photonic crystal using an electrode made of narrow thin guage
tubing brazed together. This 'channelizer' is used to narrow the
angular dispersion of the resulting protons. The 'channelized'
protons are further channeled by the particulate crystal fibers.
These are merely photonic crystal fibers that are exposed to
channelized streams of particulate matter. I have some plans to dope
these fibers so that they operate more efficiently with the charged
protons. This produces a highly collimated beam of protons that are
spatially well defined in the x-y plane. This can be proven by
scattering the proton beam off a crystal and looking at the scattering
pattern.

That's where I am.

Problems - lots of problems! lol. Solving the problems is what its
all about, and gives you patent rights as well if done properly.

Basically, the photonic crystal erodes with time. Doping should help
this, and staged acceleration - rather than channellizing after the
particles are fully accelerated. That's what the original electrode
was all about. And this should reproduce a well defined beam in a
device that lasts longer.

I have built a similar device that works with boron. This uses a
boron evaporator to create boron vapor. I work with ALL isotopes of
bron. So that limits the life cycle. And the photonic crystal due to
the higher mass of the boron - and the higher temps we start out with,
are less effective AND longevity is dramatically reduced.
Specifically, haha, I couldn't get as clear results in the
crystallographic experiment with the Boron device that I got with the
scattered protons.

Basically I want to measure the spacing of the channelized beams in
the x-y plane and get them to 1/100th angrstrom resolution - with the
same spacing and so forth. Then use this crystallographic signal to
align two beams fired at one another. This using a microscope like
stage to adjust one crystal relative to the other - and do final
adjustments with piezocrystals.

Then, fire the two well-defined beams at one another and look for
alpha particles! haha..

The idea of orienting travel so both nuclei travel in the same
direction is at present an idea. The idea of orienting spin of the
nuclei to control the phase space of the decay products, is as yet an
idea. The idea of controlling precisely when the atoms enter the tube
so their precies point of contact is well defined - all using a MEMs
device is as yet an idea. But, successfully adding these ideas to the
mix should eliminate the erosion problem, and allow studies to be
conducted in how to organize the reaction products to produce useful
effects, producing heat light, thrust, electricity and so forth...


The idea of using a multi-junction PV cell and a wiggler to power the
injector is at present highly speculative. Free Electron Lasers have
been built and tested

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_electron_laser

The idea here is to adapt photonic crystal fibers into particulate
crystal fibers that achieve a photonic crystal-like wiggler for 8.54
MeV alpha particles!!! haha.. Its hard enough with lasers that are
1/8000th the mass! lol. Of course with tiny linear dimensions it
might be interesting - and is a way I will be going further down the
road.

Silicon at room temp - or a little higher - has about 1.2 V per
junction. 125,000 junctions in series would produce 150 KV. A wiggler
that produced 1 micron wavelength photons and then deflected them away
from the path of the alpha particles very slightly, so that PV cells
caught the IR photons but let the alpha particles pass! would be
ideal. But again this is highly speculative at present.

A 1 sq mm area with 1 million channels spaced 1 um apart - would
possess PV cells that would collect IR photons one photon at a time,
and produced 1.2 V - these 1 million PV cells would be wired into 8
separate circuits - producing 150 KV and that energy would go back to
feed the injector described.

This is highly speculative. But doable in my opinion. The power
levels even in this approach are 1/10,000th that in my example - so,
we're talking $100s per watt, NOT pennies per watt! lol. Still we
learn by doing and this is a clear program of development.

This is still much lighter weight than an x-ray power supply plugged
into the wall! haha.. And allows the addition of a power output
stage as a natural extension of the product. So, even at $100 per
watt, if the system is scalable, and provides decades of fusion power
- it would make a nice deep space fusion power supply for satellites
and even manned systems. And building a handful of products each year
would give us skills to move forwaard with more powerful systems and
reduce costs to below $5 per watt - which would make it economic. Of
course at pennies per watt, we're operating at currents and power
densities high enough to support direct propulsive uses off Earth's
surface. But even in the lower applications, with 3 or 4 milligees
continuous thrust - deep space applicaitons are possible.


Again, this is highly speculative - but the early results are
promising.

Williamknowsbest wrote:

Basically, take some Boron-11 toss it in the air, and hit it dead
center with a proton travelling at 5 km/sec. Out will fly 3 Helium-4
nucleii at 12,000 km/sec!

At 5 km/s, the energy of a proton is about .13 eV. At this
low energy, the probability of fusion is negligibly small,
even if the proton is aimed directly at the boron nucleus
(as almost all will not be in a real system).

Perhaps you should check your arithmetic before posting
such things.

Paul

On Mar 3, 12:28 pm, "Paul F. Dietz" wrote:
Williamknowsbest wrote:
Basically, take some Boron-11 toss it in the air, and hit it dead
center with a proton travelling at 5 km/sec. Out will fly 3 Helium-4
nucleii at 12,000 km/sec!

At 5 km/s, the energy of a proton is about .13 eV. At this
low energy, the probability of fusion is negligibly small,
even if the proton is aimed directly at the boron nucleus
(as almost all will not be in a real system).

Perhaps you should check your arithmetic before posting
such things.

Paul

Hmm.. did I get the numbers wrong? Paul I can always count on you!

Why yes, I meant to type 500 km/sec - don't know where the 2 zeros
went! lol. Numbers and words get shifted around when I post here.
It must be the excitement of it all! haha..

Check it out; You can see for yourself what's going on;

An electron volt is a tiny unit of energy;

1 eV = 1.6e-16 Joules

and the mass of a proton is is a tiny unit of mass;

1 u = 1.66e-27 kg

And discounting relativisitc effects we have;

E = 1/2 M * V^2 / 1.66e-16

And V is 500 km/sec

So,

E = 1/2 * 1.66e-27 kg * (500,000)^2 / 1.66e-16
= 130,000 eV = 130 KeV

Since a proton has a unit charge passing it through a potential
difference of 130 KV yields particles with the requisite energy.
Basically I use an x-ray power supply at 160 KV - since Boron-11 and
protium require 123 KeV closing speed to reliably fuse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_...11B_fuel_cycle

My experimental apparatus could be considered a structured plasma sort
of device. A variant of focused fusion - this structured fusor is
sort of like a gunslinger in the old West - who tosses a quarter in
the air and shoots a hole clean through it in flight! lol.

So, basically I apply the same X-ray power supply to my boron-11 and
hydrogen beam forming devices. So, I get somewhere near 160 KeV for
the proton and about half that for the boron since it is mostly doubly
charged. Directing the beams toward one another adds their energies -
regardless of what their speeds are.

I've described where I am in my research program elsewhere.

Perhaps you should check your arithmetic before posting
such things.

Paul

Dropping a few zeros in a typgraphical error is par for the course on
usenet. Thanks for catching it.

On Mar 2, 9:02 pm, "Williamknowsbest" wrote:
Consider the reaction;

p + 11B --- 3 4He + 8.54 MeV

It requires that the protium and boron-11 be united with an energy of
123 KeV.

Basically, take some Boron-11 toss it in the air, and hit it dead
center with a proton travelling at 5 km/sec. Out will fly 3 Helium-4
nucleii at 12,000 km/sec!

I envision a nano-structured propulsive skin that consists of a layer
of water, a nanoscale hydrogen processing surface that electrolyzes
the water and ionizes the hydrogen, leaving oxygen gas. Then there's
a 160 KV accelerator gap that accelerates the protons to the needed
speed of 5 km/sec injecting them into the fusion system.

The protons enter a photonic-like crystal to control the flow of
particles giving precise control to the desired collision with the
Boron-11. These crystal rods - which have a nanotube like structure
at their center, penetrate a boron layer.

Another nanoscale surface processes the Boron-11 and ejects atoms one
at a time, injecting them at 0.5 km/sec into the same tube.

Despite their high speed along the length of the tube, the nanotube
structure reduces their temperature relative to one another.
Basically, their centers are co-located to within 0.01 angstroms
despite their high closing speed along the length of the tube.

Also, strong electret based fields along the length of the nanotube
like structgure orient the spin of the nuclei so that when the two
nucleii interact, the plane of high probability decay is well defined
and the directions of the emitted particles are controlled..
Nanostructures -again similar to photonic crystals- accept these
particles and redirect their energy so they are all collimated with
very little energy loss while imparting momentum to the entire
structure.

Imagine a 10 cm x 10 cm panel 10 cm thick. There is a 2.33 cm thick
layer of water massing 233 grams capable of producing. 25.8 grams. A
3 cm thick layer of boron-11 penetrated with nanoscale tubes every
micrometer, contains 284 grams of boron-11. The rest of the nanoscale
structure masses 1 kg and carries out the processes on a nanoscale
just described. The final surface has a beam of highly collimated
alpha particles travelling at 12,000 km/sec..

At peak power output the accelerator is 40 MW and it produces a jet
with a 2.3 GW power rating producing 35 kg of thrust across 100 sq cm
- at this level of thrust the system operates 10,000 seconds.

A vehicle with a propulsive skin totalling 320 sq m and weighing
14,000 kg can pull over 8 gees at full thrust. At 1 gee it can
operate 1 day. At 1/10th gee it can operate over a week and fly
throughout the inner solar system. At 1/100th gee the vehicle can
operate 80 days and span the solar system.

In an atmosphere it can use the alpha stream to heat the air it finds
and use it as a working fluid in a combustionless jet - operating at
very low power levels. Thus the vehicle operates like a vtol fighter
in the atmospheres of Earth, Mars, Venus, the outer planets, and moons
with atmospheres.

The oxygen produced by the separation of oxygen and hydrogen from
water is sufficient to support a crew of 6 even at 1/200th gee. A
small quanity of hydrogen is cycled through fuel cells to recreate
water, to power the cabin systems. Spare oxygen is dumped for
evaprative cooling.

Propusive systems like this produced in quantity, would sell for about
$100 per square meter - about $32,000 - if they are to be used as
commonly as automobiles. This means that a square cm costs a penny.
Since 100 sq cm produces over 2GW this means 1 sq cm produces 20
MW!!! A sq mm producs 200 kW!!! And 100 of them cost a penny!!! At
1/1000th output each sq mm produces 2kW - enough to run a house - and
last 1 million seconds - or 11.6 days. A penny pack would power a
home for 3 years!!! Of course, they'd sell for more than a hundred
for a penny.

The 8.54 MeV alpha particle could easily be converted to electrical
power. A 10 cm nanotube like structure that the collimated alpha
particles enter is equipped with structured electric fields that cause
the particles to wiggle. And the wiggler changes spacing as the alpha
particles slow, so that a constant output is produced. A short
segment of material exists at the exhaust plane of the propulsive skin
described earlier to extract power for the 160 KeV injector. In power
applications this is extended to extract all the kinetic energy from
the alpha particles. This results in a powerful IR laser beam
operating at 1100 nm. This laser beam falls on a bandgap matched
Silicon PV device 1 sq mm in area. 2 kW per sq mm is 20,000x solar
intensity. 400 junctions operate in series reducing parasitic heating
16,000x - conversion efficiency is 98% - which means 40 W thermal is
generated for a 2 kW power cell. The PV and power handling equipment
costs 1/10th cent per cell. So, for power application you only get 9
per penny.

Since 1,100 nm is shortwave IR energy, letting the IR energy fall on a
hollow tapered rod of tungten will provide radiant heat - and
depending on surface area (length and diameter of rod) and power level
incandescent lighting.

Power output ranges over 6 orders of magnitude by varying injection
rates from 1,000 per second to 1 billion per second - across each sq
mm. So power output ranges from 2 kW to 2 milliwatts -Longevity
ranges from 11.6 days to 3,000 years for each 5 cm long rod.

A 1 sq cm collection consisting of 100 units 15 cm long costing 11
cents can power a 285 hp electric automobile for two weeks or more
depending on average power rating.

Clearly technology like this could remake life on Earth. Small
appliances could provide energy for every toy, appliance, electronic
device, vehicle, home, office, factory, equipment, on demand.

Every kg of boron produces the equivalent of 11,000 bbls of oil worth
of energy. The world would need 20 kg of boron a day to meet ALL of
its energy needs. The world produces 421,284.8 kg of boron-11 each
day. So, there is plenty of boron-11 to go around. Everyone
consuming energy at current US per capita rate would increase
consumption to 220 kg boron per day. Everyone having their own
personal VTOL spaceship in their garage to fly around the world in
minutes, to the moon in hours and to Mars in days, would increase
boron consumption to about 4,000 kg per day - or about 1% of current
production.

Global economic output is approximately $65 trillion per year and
energy consumption is about $1.8 trillion per year. Increasing this
100 fold implies energy consumption of $180 trillion per year and a
human economy of $1.3 quadrillion per year. At a selling price of 10
penny per watt - an today's consumption of 16 TW - implies $1.6
trillion in infrastructure - a disposable system that lasted about a
year is implied by these numbers. Growing to 100x this figure.

With an economic growth rate of 7% per year, a 100 fold increase in
economic activity would take;

LN(100)/LN(1.07) = 68.06 years

So, by 2075 AD starting today

To reach the current per capita level of the average American requires

LN(11)/LN(1.07) = 35.44 years

Or 2042.

Since population growth rate is inversely proportional to per capita
income, and since the US today has a negative population growth rate
(not counting immigration) we can estimate global population by
assuming it is today's rate until US per capita income is reached.
This step function will over-estimate the total, so we divide the
increase by two as a first-order approximation, so here goes;

Global population today is 6.52 billion and growth rate is 1.14% per
year. So,

Population estimate at ZPG = 6.52e+9 * (1.0114)^(35.44)
= 9.74e+9

This is an increase of 3.22 billion. Dividing this by two obtains
1.61 billion increase. Thus by 2042 given development and broad use
of this technology to bring about a 7% growth rate each year (nearly
doubling today's economic growth rate) population would stabilize at
8.13 billion people.

Delays in implementation increases population and dlays the point in
time ZPG is reached. But generally 10 billion people max by 2050 with
everyone at current US per capita income is a worthy and achievable
target for today's and future industrialists

Thrown into the bargain is the ability to travel throughout the world
and the solar system with the same ease the average American travels
across North America.


The proton is fired at the 11B at 500 km/sec not 5 km/sec since fusion
requires at least 123 KeV collision.

Metaboric acid in beta phase with depleted boron with a density of
2.045 g/cc and a melting point of 201 C has a formula of HBO2 - can
act as a propellant in the system described. Each cc has a potential
energy of 40 GJ - equal to 335 gallons of gasoline!

A MEMs based system admits the metaboric acid into it and decomposes
it into Hydrogen, Boron and oxygen. The oxygen is gathered into a
header system collected and used for breathing as described before.

The Boron is ejected first by the MEMs system across a 300KV gap into
the photonic crystal fiber at 228 km/sec. The proton is ejected next
and it enters the fiber at 750 km/sec behind the boron.

The proton strikes the boron in excess of 500 km/sec.

The position of the strike along the line of travel is determined by
the timing of the two release events. In this simplified systems the
alpha particles are produced in a spherically symmetric pattern at a
well defined point along their mutual line of travel. Scattering of
the alpha particles off the surface produces thrust.

Imagine a 10 cm long channel and detonation 10 cm beyond the end of
this channel. A total travel of 20 cm. At 228 km/sec it takes the
boron atom 877 nanoseconds to traverse this distance. It takes the
proton 267 nanoseconds. So releasing the proton precisely 610 ns
after the boron nucleus across this 300KV gap produces a reaction 20
cm from the release point - 10 cm outside the 10 cm long channel. A 1
micrometer diameter channel, allows 1 million channels per square
mm. At 1 million cycles per second that's 1 trillion reactions per
second per square mm. And at 8.54 MeV per reaction this is an energy
density of;

1 eV = 1.6e-19 J

1e+12 reactions per sq mm

8.54e+6 eV per reaction


So,

8.54e+18 eV per second * 1.6e-19 J/ev = 1.36 Watts per sq mm.

That's 136 Watts per sq cm
That's 1.36 MW per sq m.

This is about 1/20,000th that needed to produce the levels of thrust
called for in the previous example. Although it would make a handy
power system, Reducing the diameter of the channels to 10 nm each,
and multiplying the atomic injectors on the MEMs surface to match
this, increases the reaction rate 10,000x - or 13.6 kW per sq mm, 1.36
MW per sq cm, and 13.6 GW per sq m

Reducing the lengths of the channels to 5 cm and the offset from the
surface to 5 cm, produces the power levels called for in the first
example.

Changing the injection rate of the nuclei changes power output. If 8
gees is 2,000,000 cps then 1 gee would be 250,000 cps. 1/10th gee
25,000 cps. 1/100th gee 2,500 1/200th gee 1,250 cps

Low levels of thrust through interplanetary space produce audible
feedback through the structure. Scattering causes heating effects and
regions of the propulsive surface to glow. Operation in air causes
halo glow. A well designed craft would use atmospheric effects to
sustain lift at very low power settings.

Williamknowsbest wrote:

The proton strikes the boron in excess of 500 km/sec.

Your scheme can't work, for a fairly basic reason. Most of
the protons will not be aimed squarely at boron nuclei. Nuclei
are *tiny*, with a radius about 100,000 times smaller than an atom.
So most of the time the protons will go whizzing through
the electrons around the nucleus and not fuse. In doing so
they lose energy to ionization and scattering of the electrons.

The rate at which the protons will lose energy to the electrons
will be much, much higher than the rate at which fusion will
occur. You cannot get net energy production from any such
system. Even DT fusion can't achieve breakeven in such a
scheme.

Paul

On Mar 4, 6:42 pm, "Paul F. Dietz" wrote:
Williamknowsbest wrote:
The proton strikes the boron in excess of 500 km/sec.

Your scheme can't work, for a fairly basic reason. Most of
the protons will not be aimed squarely at boron nuclei.

Evidence is required for any statement. I assume throughout that the
protons ARE aimed squarely at boron nuclei. If this assumption cannot
be backed up by experimental evidence, then the system cannot work.
If it can be backed up - then the system has a shot.


Nuclei
are *tiny*, with a radius about 100,000 times smaller than an atom.

Its all a function of how accurately aligned you get things. You have
a 1/r^2 columbic repulsive force, and an exponentially increasing
strong force as a function of radius.

The diameter of atoms are on the order of angstroms (100,000 fermi)
The diameter of nuclei are on the order of fermis. So you're right.

http://dl.clackamas.cc.or.us/ch104-07/atomic_size.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_nucleus

The diameter of a boron atom is about 88,000 fermis, and the strong
force overcomes repulsion at about 2.5 fermis - generally, but
Boron-11 is a halo nucleus, so its strong force exceeds columbic
forces when the radisu is around 9 fermis. So, we're talking about an
accuracy of 0.00009 angstroms.

I said I can reliably get fusion if I'm 'dead on' with an accuracy of
0.01 angstroms, or 1,000 fermis - 100x the error that this analysis
indicates is possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internucleon_force

So, in a classical sense you've got to be very accurate. Is it
possible to position a nucleus THAT accurately? I don't know. That's
a question that subject to experimental investigation.

But what this analysis is missing is the ability of nuclei to tunnel
across very small distances in very short times. Tunneling probabilty
goes up as the exponent of distance. Electron tunneling is the basis
of a lot of electronics and that occurs on a scale far larger than
atoms. Nuclear tunneling is the basis of muonic fusion and it occurs
on a scale of about 0.1 angstroms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muon-catalyzed_fusion

I'm presuming two things;

1) That accuracies that allow the proton and boron-11 nucleus to
approach the distance possible with muonic catalyzed reactions
(1/100th angstrom) are sufficient to initiate fusion (there is some
evidence this is over-kill)

2) That accuracies possible with mechanical transports in atomic
force microscopes (1/100th Angstrom) are possible to achieve with two
collinearly moving nuclei in a crystal fiber channel.

Again, I don't know that this is possible, but these considerations
make it seem like a reasonable experiment to carry out. That is, I
have achieved my desired goal with protons, and I am working on doing
this reliably with boron. I will then fire these at each other, with
an energy of 320 KeV (fired at one another) and measure the alpha
production that results.

So most of the time the protons will go whizzing through
the electrons around the nucleus and not fuse.

Its all a function of the distance they reach relative to one another
before they begin moving apart again. Draw a line between the two
nuclei - if they approach dead on accurately, they will reach a radius
well below 9 fermis and the strong force will take over and they will
fuse. This is classical. There is a tube around this line where they
will approach within 2.5 nm and fuse. This accuracy as you pointed
out is around 3 fermis radius around this central line. This is
1/30,000th Angstrom, not 1/100th Angstrom I said previously.

However, there is a tunneling effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_tunneling

That combined with the experimental results of muonic fusion suggest
that measureable rates of fusion might be possible with accuracies of
1/100th angstrom. Building an apparatus as described and doing the
experiment I describe will provide sufficient data to see whether or
not this is possible.

Saying that what I propose is not possible based on the analysis you
have offered is premature and incomplete and does not take the
evidence of muon catalyzed fusion and tunnelling effects into account.

In doing so
they lose energy to ionization and scattering of the electrons.

Scattering is a function of 1/R only - the more accurately the two
nuclei are aligned the less they scatter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scattering_amplitude

The question is, are you even right when you say you have to have
accuracies of fermis for this process to work? On the order of 1
barn?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_cross_section

Well, with closing speeds of 500 km/sec - which is 1/600th the speed
of light, and the large cross section of the Boron nucleus, AND the
effects of tunneling as the proton passes by, suggests that accuracies
of 1/100th angstrom, or 1,000 fermis, a cross section for THIS
reaction (11B+p -- 3 4He) is around 1 million barns at minimum
closing speeds.

I believe it possible with the experimental appratus I'm using (very
long channelizers approx 1 meter) its possible to achieve 100 fermi
accuracy. With 1 million channels per sq mm - and accurate
measurement of proton and boron spacing - it should be possible to
calculate the reaction cross section by measuring the alpha flux of
two opposed beams.

..

The rate at which the protons will lose energy to the electrons
will be much, much higher than the rate at which fusion will
occur.

I agree that a high degree of spatial control is necessary for nuclear
reactions to take place. Absolutely. Generally speaking it is
assumed that random variations in spatial positions are far far larger
than required for fusion to occur. This leads to thermal sorts of
analysis and leads us to the lawson criterion for fusionj based on a
hot plasma or gas that loses energy by radiation and has energy added
by fusion events.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawson_criterion

My only contribution is to ask the question, is this assumption that
we can never control the spatial relations of the reactants to the
degree required even right? The experiment I describe is the first
step down this path. As far as I know no one has ever suggested that
such spatial control be attempted. For good and obvious reasons you
dully repeat here. However, recent advances in photonic crystal
technology, and adapting crystal fibers to channel nuclei along the
lines I've described, suggest we can get collinearity between 1,000
fermis and 100 fermis - and if we have a reaction cross section of
10,000 barns to 1,000,000 barns at 130 KeV to 300 KeV for this
reaction

(p + 11B -- 3 4He)

Then we should get some sort of alpha particle signature that will
tell us what sort of engineering targets must be achieved to make a
practical system, or even if a practical system is possible.

You cannot get net energy production from any such
system.

It depends totally on what evidence exists for the reaction cross
section. If due to tunnelling effects it is on the order of 10,000
barns or more, the system I describe is feasible. If such effects do
not exist and the reaction cross section is 100 barns or less, the
system I describe is likely not feasible.

Even DT fusion can't achieve breakeven in such a
scheme.

You proceed from an erroneous analysis - I think youwill agree its all
a matter of reaction cross section. Yes, a proton is 1.6 fermis in
diameter. That means total cross section is 32 barns according to the
analysis you would have us follow. A very tiny corridor to hit for
fusion to take place.

However, muons allow deutrium nuclei to get within 580 fermis of each
other- and they cause fusion to take place. This suggests that
tunneling effects increase the cross section of D-D fusion to a figure
of 4,227,000 barns!!!!

What if the 11-Boron and proton have this high a cross section? We'll
get nearly unity output with 1,000 fermi resolution of colinearity -
that is nearly 100% of all nuclei will fuse and very few will scatter!

I won't know until I carry out the experiment. When I do I will have
a measure of cross section. If I do get nearly unity output - that is
100% of the elements fuse, I have a means to electromagnetically
defocus the proton beam to measure alpha production fall off with
increasing error - to get engineering data on a practical system.

Of course if only 1 in a billion nuclei fuse with 100 fermi
resolution, the cross section will be far smaller than even you
suggest. Even so, accurate measurement of all aspects of this
experiment will measure this cross section under these conditions and
demonstrate conclusively what you say here without evidence.

-Bill