Sometimes Wikipedia can be very useful [when bias cannot be a factor] so
you'll see some Wikipedia links in this.
I have had ideas about nuclear fusion for a long time, it STILL being unrealized (in a useful sense) since the invention of the Tokomak. I
think it is being OVER-researched, because there is no sense of urgency.
Currently there are 2 competing methods (that I know of) to get short
term >1:1 energy out of fusion: One is a Tokomak-like system (most
research done here). The other is "inertial confinement" where a
crapload of lasers blast a (very expensive) fuel pellet from all
directions until it undergoes fusion.
To the best of my knowledge, NONE of them use resonant energies.
In electronics there is a device called a 'Resonant Tunnel Diode' which
is very new/expensive/hard-to-make but has a LOT of potential:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resonant-tunneling_diode
Tunneling can be described as a small percentage of particles being able
to get through a barrier without having sufficient energy to cross it.
long link:
https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/University_Physics/University_Physics_(OpenStax)/University_Physics_III_-_Optics_and_Modern_Physics_(OpenStax)/07%3A_Quantum_Mechanics/7.07%3A_Quantum_Tunneling_of_Particles_through_Potential_Barriers
tiny link:
http://tinyurl.com/taduw9re
Other info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_tunnelling
In a semiconductor, you need sufficient voltage to get it to conduct,
but tunneling allows it to conduct a *tiny* amount below that. A tunnel
diode leverages this by being heavily 'doped', which causes a 'negative resistance' region (i.e. voltage up, current down) in its operating
curve, which can be used for an amplifier.
A resonant tunnel diode has multiple barriers, and at a 'resonant'
energy ALL of them can be crossed by an incoming particle (in this case electrons) and as such the conductivity is much better at those energies
(think voltage) than a regular tunnel diode.
In fact, at the right energy, the probability of tunneling is 1, i.e.
100%, which is the same conductivity as if the diode were operating at
the normal potential WITHOUT tunneling. In other words, these resonant energies ELIMINATE the barriers entirely.
This is the *KIND* of RESONANCE energy I have been considering with
respect to fusion. In the sun H-H fusion reactions actually happen at a
much lower temperature than expected BECAUSE of tunneling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton%E2%80%93proton_chain
For the barrier between hydrogen nuclei there is something called a
'Gamow window' i.e. a range of energies in which tunneling occurs and
the probabilities of it occuring:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamow_window
As far as I can tell this is for a SINGLE barrier and is generic for any particle interactions involving tunneling (though the various constants
would be different for each type of interaction).
There is also a secondary type of fusion reaction that is more common in heavier stars, the "CNO" cycle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNO_cycle
This was once thought to be the only reaction in the sun, but was later theorized (and then measured and proven using neutrino detectors) NOT to
be the case.
CNO cycle happens at higher energy levels and involves Carbon, Nitrogen,
and Oxygen (and sometimes Flourine, Neon, and some slightly heavier
elements). In short the fusion process adds protons one at a time,
starting with carbon. When the result is unstable one of the protons
becomes a neutron by spitting out a positron and a neutrino. As the
element gets heavier, it eventually spits out an alpha particle (which
is basically a helium nucleus) and (generaly) becomes carbon again.
Each reaction here, of course, would also fall under the probabilities
of tunneling.
So here's the thing: WHAT IF multiple barriers can be created AND the
energy of protons be controlled such that it is ALWAYS at this resonant
energy? If it is sufficiently low, fusion would become VERY economical.
In electronics there is a device known as a "Travelling wave tube".
Back in the dark ages of electronics, where satellites first needed
microwave communications, they used these things a lot in low power transmitters and signal amplifiers on satellites. (apparently they are
still in use today in a lot of applications, just as magenetrons are
used in radars and microwave ovens).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveling-wave_tube
These devices work by 'bunching' electrons in a beam, through the use of resonant cavities and/or a helix with a resonant circuit attached to it.
In short you can make a tuned beam of particle bunches at a specific frequency.
The key here is the 'bunching'. The energy of the particles is
determined based on voltages and magnetic fields in the tube. HOWEVER,
if these bunches were sufficiently compact, and the energy 'resonant',
smashing them into other bunches COULD result in fusion. Resonant
energies are lower than blasting with lasers or heating plasma, perhaps
WAY lower.
The trick here is to create multiple barriers. But there is no reason
why you cannot smash (let's say) HEAVY OIL together to create fusion.
Heavy oil (containing heavy hydrogen) would get you the Deuterium +
Deuterium or Deuterium + Tritium reaction, which releases the most
energy, as well as (possibly) a portion of the CNO cycle. With both
carbon AND hydrogen you now (potentially) have TWO barriers. So the
idea is to smash hydrocarbon plasma (with heavy hydrogen) bunches into
one another at ExACTLY the right energy.
Then the probability of fusion should be VERY high.
Anyway this is the kind of thing I mull over when I have time to think.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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