Take That Fusion!

[Spacescifi]

Well folks...now we finally know how to do the classic fusion scifi spaceship we all know and love.

Just cool the engine to such a cool temperature that the atoms comprising it stop moving...totally.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livescience.com/amp/25959-atoms-colder-than-absolute-zero.html

Then start the fusion process.

I don't know how long it will take before the engine melts itself from the heat. So my guess is that one would use the engine on a limited basis, since you would have to cool off to get that fusion contained WITHOUT magnetic fields.

Awesome stuff...we likely will get better at the hot and cold physics game in the distant future.

Indeed...that's exactly what is needed to make big SSTO's...tolerating engine heat that melts all known materials.

So the solution seems simple enough...just cool the engine down to super negative.

I know this in practice is hard, but leave that to the future.

For now, we can speculate on the implications of what technologies we would develop if we could do this on a massive scale.
 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2020 by Spacescifi

[SOXBLOX]

       *blinks*

Uhh, whaddya plan to do with the heat when the engine warms back up?

[Spacescifi]

7 minutes ago, SOXBLOX said:

       *blinks*

Uhh, whaddya plan to do with the heat when the engine warms back up?

 

The same thing all fictional writers do.

The other option is...disposable fusion engine cores?

I mean in a typical space opera setting with FTL and warp such a thing COULD be considered disposable.

 

 

[kerbiloid]

Quote

This unusual advance could lead to new engines that could technically be more than 100 percent efficient

This article is a source of light for all humankind!

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

 

[Entropian]

Uhhh, laws of thermodynamics?  Nozzles also have a low specific heat, and fusion produces a massive amount of heat.  Cooling it down like this won't work, and even then, negative temperatures violate the laws of pretty much everything.

EDIT: This article is from seven years ago.  Any follow-up from the researchers?  Independent replication?

Edited October 27, 2020 by Entropian

[Shpaget]

That article reads exactly like the string theory proponent's claim that the sum of all positive integers equals -1/12, and that this is somehow proof that string theory (which, by the way, is nowhere near good enough to be called theory) is the solution to life universe and everything.

[Arugela]

If that is true it just means absolute 0 isn't really the absolute limit and we have to reexamine things. You can never assume a theory is the correct answer for observation. Observation can be caused by things much more complex or different than what you think atm. You need more observation and as much as possible to try to get the tiniest chance of every truly being correct.

It would be fun as we would find new things to mess with and expand on our current knowledge/technology.

Edited October 28, 2020 by Arugela

[K^2]

Negative temperatures correspond to excited metastable states. Thermodynamically speaking, a lasing medium of a laser has negative temperature. That's why things like laser cooling are possible. But it's not like having negative thermal energy, so in terms of kinematics, you still have positive temperature. So utility is rather limited.