OT: fusion is getting SOOOO close -> then comes fusion engines!!! ::P muhuhahah(no j

[Me Loonn]

Well, the alpha centauri is a tertiary system.

Alpha Centauri A is the main star (type G2) of this tertiary system, similar to our sun (also type G2) thought abit larger.
The other two are an orange dwarf Alpha Centauri B (type K1) and a small red dwarf, Alpha Centauri C (type M5) aka 'Proxima Centauri'.

More info from here homepage.sunrise.ch/homepage/schatzer/Alpha-Centauri.html

[ November 26, 2003, 18:04: Message edited by: Me Loonn ]

[Phoenix-D]

A hydrogen bomb IS a fusion bomb. And we do have fusion reactions right now, they just take far more energy to sustain then they produce in power.

[Taera]

for all i know, we had those for some time now, how correct are my knowledges?

[Cyrien]

I did a nice paper for my Environmental Studies class on Fusion Power and other alternative healthy energies.

The biggest draw back with fusion is thus. Is is not free. It is very cheap to maintain and run and decomission. It has a super massive initial investment cost. The bigger a fusion generator and thus the more expensive the more efficient it will be. Fusion is a bigger is better kind of thing. A larger stable reaction produces more energy for same maintenance cost, is easier to contain and safer than a smaller one.

I wouldn't expect any fusion engines anytime soon. A few fusion reactors, but it will be a hard sale. For most people as soon as you say "fusion" and they hear "fission" or "nuclear" and they will run away and not listen any further. Don't even bother mentioning the initial price tag.

Fusion is the best long term solution... but most people don't think about the long term and don't educate themselves enough on the issues to understand the difference between fusion and fission.

PS: Fusion bombs are those massive ones several hundred to thousand times more powerful than the first ones on hiroshima and nagasaki and all their standard atomic bomb ancestors.

As for future weapons... Imagine all the great energy weapons you can use with massive energy sources. Enough to create massive EMP waves without a big nuclear explosion? Lasers? Particle cannons? Mass Drivers? Rail Guns?

[ November 27, 2003, 04:00: Message edited by: Cyrien ]

[Nocturnal]

How far can you take that? Wouldn't it be most efficient to create one very giant fusion reactor to power an entire country the size of, say, the United States? But doesn't that take up a massive amount of rare fuel in one place?

Eventually we will run into the same fuel problems with nuclear power plants that we have with fossil fuels.

I'm into microwave solar energy.

[Phoenix-D]

Originally posted by Nocturnal:
How far can you take that? Wouldn't it be most efficient to create one very giant fusion reactor to power an entire country the size of, say, the United States? But doesn't that take up a massive amount of rare fuel in one place?

Eventually we will run into the same fuel problems with nuclear power plants that we have with fossil fuels.

I'm into microwave solar energy.

No. You loose power going along transmission lines. As for fuel being rare..hah. Fusion runs off of, at worst, isotopes of hydrogen. Hydrogen is ridculously common, and the isotopes just aren't that rare.

As far as microwave solar energy goes: have fun dealing with atmospheric interference, the side effects of dumping that much energy through the atmosphere, and the fun effects you get if the beam is partially off-target.

[Cyrien]

The Hydrogen needed for Fusion is found in common water. Something like one out of every 3 water molecules on earth possess it.

Heh. Maybe eventually we burn up all the water on Earth for Fusion power.

[ November 27, 2003, 05:19: Message edited by: Cyrien ]