how much hydrogen

drifter god · Post by **drifter god** » 2003-03-04 08:07pm

ok, i know this has been asked before, but i cant find the thread, so...
can someone give me a reasonable amout (ie: in grams, kilograms) of hyrogen nececary to power a fusion reactor, say onboard a vehicle the size of a modern jet-fighter. ether that or could you just give me the stats for converting hydrogen into energy, like how huch hydrogen is needed to put out so many jouls a second, that kind of stuff, thanks. im trying to figure out the space required for fuel suply on my projects.

Cyborg Stan · Post by **Cyborg Stan** » 2003-03-04 08:48pm

Right now? An infinite amount. Current fusion reactors don't generate surplus energy.

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2003-03-04 08:59pm

About the volume and mass of the sun.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2003-03-04 09:17pm

I'm no nuclear physicist, but I would say an upper limit of 1.44MeV per molecule of Hydrogen.

drifter god · Post by **drifter god** » 2003-03-04 09:38pm

there, thank you wicked pilot, thats the kind of answer i was looking for

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2003-03-04 09:51pm

drifter god wrote:there, thank you wicked pilot, thats the kind of answer i was looking for

Actually, that's pretty useless, as it's only taking into account the first stage of fusion.

drifter god · Post by **drifter god** » 2003-03-04 10:43pm

well shit

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-03-04 10:55pm

i think its been noted that various tokamaks have actually reached minor amounts of breakeven.

Grand Moff Tim · Post by **Grand Moff Tim** » 2003-03-05 08:43am

Convenient Energy Content Approximations
Fission of U-233: 17.8 kt/kg
Fission of U-235: 17.6 kt/kg
Fission of Pu-239: 17.3 kt/kg
Fusion of pure deuterium: 82.2 kt/kg
Fusion of tritium and deuterium (50/50): 80.4 kt/kg
Fusion of lithium-6 deuteride: 64.0 kt/kg
Fusion of lithium-7 deuteride
Total conversion of matter to energy: 21.47 Mt/kg
Fission of 1.11 g U-235: 1 megawatt-day (thermal)

This what you're looking for?