(NOT COLD FUSION!) The byproducts of BASIC fusion...

[JMBuilder]

Okay, so... Clearly people hate me for merely asking questions about Cold Fusion (I plead the First), so I'm just asking a simple question about fusion in general.

Is there any way to fuse two atoms without getting gamma radiation in the process?

[SargeRho]

You can use particle colliders to smack atoms into eachother. This does produce fusion, but I think also releases neutrons. Not sure about gamma rays there.

[andrewas]

A given reaction will have the same products no matter how you trigger it. There are reactions that produce less radiation than simple deuterium fusion, but they are all much harder to trigger and thus even less plausible for cold fusion, or even hot fusion, than deuterium. Maybe in the future we'll have reactors running the proton+b11 reaction, but right now we can't even get net energy from simple H2+H2.

[Kryten]

Particle-beam fusion usually involves proton beams (unless it's an attempt to synthesise superheavy elements), which will produce X-ray radiation upon hitting a target even if no reactions occur, due to the 'bremmstrahlung' effect.

In most fusion reactions it's neutron radiation that's the issue, not gamma. The one I gave at the end of the last thread is a rather odd one, one that would be effectively impossible to do in any environment outside of the core of star, which is indeed where it happens. In terms of practical fusion reactions, the ones people tend to talk about as 'aneutronic fusion power' candidates are ¹H-¹¹B fusion and ³He-³He fusion. ³He-³He can effectively be ignored immediately due to the extreme difficulty of getting ³He in any real quantities, so most research looks at ¹H-¹¹B. However, the research hasn't come up which much good news. To give the gist of it, ¹H-¹¹B needs 10X the temperature of the ²H-³H reaction everybody usually works with, and we simply can't keep plasma of that temperature confined enough for energy-gaining fusion using any near-term technology.

[JMBuilder]

What would the radioactive effects of simple H1+H1 fusion be?

[K^2]

What would the radioactive effects of simple H1+H1 fusion be?

Gamma radiation at up to 0.42MeV. The amount of radiation will depend only on your reaction rate.

[Kryten]

As I said earlier,

¹H+¹H-->²H+e⁺+Ve+0.42 MeV

With the e⁺ promptly converting into a couple of gamma rays. However, almost every time the reaction will create a 'diproton' instead, which immediately decays back to the initial products, making it very hard to get net energy out of it. This effect is why the sun's core (in which almost all of the reactions are this one) has about the same energy output per unit mass as your average compost heap.

Edited October 5, 2013 by Kryten

[JMBuilder]

Doesn't a decaying atom produce energy as well?

[Kryten]

Depends on the decay process. In this case, no.

[Ralathon]

Okay, so... Clearly people hate me for merely asking questions about Cold Fusion (I plead the First), so I'm just asking a simple question about fusion in general.

Is there any way to fuse two atoms without getting gamma radiation in the process?

Nah, you're always going to end up with at least some radiation.

nuclei move really really fast relative to each other right before fusing, the nuclei after fusing are stationary relative to each other. That kinetic energy has to go somewhere, so it ends up being emitted as a photon. Since fusion is a very violent and energetic event that photon will be gamma radiation.

Also, we're more than willing to answer questions about cold fusion or fusion in general. But you have to accept the answers as well. Simply saying "Did you see the process?" as a counterargument is a logical fallacy, and those are annoying.

[JMBuilder]

Okay, aside from "annoying" questions, would keeping the reaction under a fairly deep pool of water stop the radiation enough?

[Kryten]

Irradiation of reactor components is an issue. Neutron flux will transmutate parts of the reactor structure, making it radioactive in itself, and will also effect the lattice structure of any metals, causing potentially severe embrittlement.

[JMBuilder]

Personal protection from gamma rays is easy enough, but lattice mutation is a problem... Any way to counteract that?

Edited October 5, 2013 by JMBuilder

[Kryten]

You can attempt to use materials that are less affected, but that's it.

[JMBuilder]

Meh... Guess you could always remove the main component and re-purify it.

[Kryten]

You can say 'electrode', we all know what you're trying to do. Just listen to what people actually tell you.

[JMBuilder]

I am listening. I'm just so determined to get it to work that I get flustered when people say it's impossible. For the most part, it seems like the mechanical stresses from the lattice expanding and contracting are why the atoms might fuse.

Yes, I'll be horribly disappointed if it doesn't work, but I've got to know. It seems feasible.

[Kryten]

Now we've acknowledged this is in fact just the same thread for the fourth time, I want to discuss something you mentioned earlier. You said that this 'fusion device' of yours works both with light and heavy water, right?

[JMBuilder]

Hopefully with just water. Far easier to get than heavy water.

[Kryten]

I don't mean 'hopefully'. Have the same people that report reactions with heavy water reported reactions with light water?

[JMBuilder]

Not that I know of.

[K^2]

For the most part, it seems like the mechanical stresses from the lattice expanding and contracting are why the atoms might fuse.

Yes, I'll be horribly disappointed if it doesn't work, but I've got to know. It seems feasible.

These are not even the same ball parks of energy levels.

[DaveofDefeat]

Idk, should we be worried some guy is trying to build a fusion reactor?

[K^2]

Idk, should we be worried some guy is trying to build a fusion reactor?

Not at all. Worst case scenario, small hydrogen gas explosion and a subsequent fire. That's as much damage as he could possibly do. There are plenty of ways for him to hurt himself, but that's his problem.

[drakesdoom]

k^2 maybe you should give him some tips on how to apply Nail Spike concepts to speed him along to his conclusion.