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Currently, to contain the very hot plasma in a fusion generator, magnetic fields are used. These need to keep the plasma away from contact with any surface - due to the high temperatures. The only reason magnets are used, is because we haven't really got any other choice, until an anti-gravity device
is invented.
So surely the answer is to put the reactor at the point where there is no gravity ( Lagrange points ), and remove one of the main problems with fusion reaction - the breakdown due to contact.
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It's not just about avoiding contact. |
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Fusion occurs only at very high temperatures and pressures. In a vacuum, if you release plasma it instantly disperses in all directions. |
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Your star, as you have obliquely mentioned, maintains its structure against radiation pressure by its gravity. |
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The alternative is to contain the plasma by magnetic fields, such as a polywell. |
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I might be wrong, but I didn't think Tokamaks ran at extreme pressure. I thought they were just high temperature |
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So the idea is more to put a tokamak at lagrange point, to help with the containment |
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So the idea is more to put a tokamak at lagrange point, to help with the containment |
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Yes, but what you wrote was: //The only reason magnets are used, is because we haven't really got any other choice, until an anti-gravity device is invented.// |
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which is silly. Tokamaks do not operate at high pressures, but they do have to contain the plasma, at very high temperatures. That containment is done by magnets, because no material can withstand those temperatures. The sun works because the mass of hydrogen is enough for gravitation to confine the plasma at the centre. |
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Now, how exactly does zero-G help a tokamak? What would be the advantage of putting it at a Lagrange point? And if there were any point in putting it in a zero-effective-G location (which there isn't), why a Lagrange point? Why not just in low Earth orbit? |
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// I didn't think Tokamaks ran at extreme pressure. I thought they were just high temperature // |
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General Gas Law, PV = RT. |
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Temperature and pressure are inextricably interrelated. |
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As are spaghetti and Bolognese sauce. |
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JET runs at about 100 million degrees C; the core of the sun is estimated to be at about 15 million degrees C. |
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The reason JET is so much hotter is that the reaction rate depends on both temperature and pressure; JET is incapable of matching the pressure of the core of the sun, so it needs to run correspondingly hotter to get a useful reaction rate. |
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