If We Had Atomic Colliders That Were Reliably Efficient... What Could We Do?

[Spacescifi]

Particle colliders do not count because they have a low hit rate and arguably miss far more than they hit.

 

If had a scifi atomic collider which could collide atoms with great efficiency... what could we do?

 

Science? Technology,

Edited August 25, 2023 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

A D-T neutron tube to replace the Po-Be urchin as a neutron source, to init the chain fission in a disposable nuclear device.

Wait... It was done in 1930s.

[Spacescifi]

1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

A D-T neutron tube to replace the Po-Be urchin as a neutron source, to init the chain fission in a disposable nuclear device.

Wait... It was done in 1930s.

 

Oh. Okay... so what we really would like is is a nuclear collider that was really efficient about colliding nuclei.

If we had that... then what could we do with it?

Edited August 25, 2023 by Spacescifi

[magnemoe]

I say part of the problem is that atom cores are very small and they repel each others making them hitting each other reliable makes intercepting ICBM shooting fish in an barrel. 
The obvious one is you now have an good fusion reactor. 

[Spacescifi]

10 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

I say part of the problem is that atom cores are very small and they repel each others making them hitting each other reliable makes intercepting ICBM shooting fish in an barrel. 
The obvious one is you now have an good fusion reactor. 

Which unfortunately we have no good way of containing it unless we make the reaction chamber big enough that the heat won't melt it down.

Definitely more a powerplant than for a spaceship.

[darthgently]

5 hours ago, magnemoe said:

I say part of the problem is that atom cores are very small and they repel each others making them hitting each other reliable makes intercepting ICBM shooting fish in an barrel. 
The obvious one is you now have an good fusion reactor. 

No problem, just need a deus ex machina automagic tubular "force field" to make them hit each other.  Like sky mounted roller coaster tracks for ICBMs and AMSs to ensure intercepts 

[kerbiloid]

The Maxwell daemons can do it max well.

They distinguish every single atom.

[magnemoe]

8 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

The Maxwell daemons can do it max well.

They distinguish every single atom.

Who just require you to invent one. 

[kerbiloid]

6 hours ago, magnemoe said:

Who just require you to invent one. 

Why? They work in combustion engines.

[Vanamonde]

The current purpose of colliding particles is to break them apart to analyze the debris and figure out the nature and rules of matter. Making that more efficient would decrease the cost of research, but I don't think there's any practical application. 

[Spacescifi]

31 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

The current purpose of colliding particles is to break them apart to analyze the debris and figure out the nature and rules of matter. Making that more efficient would decrease the cost of research, but I don't think there's any practical application. 

Or we might discover something we can exploit and develop.

Imagine if we found a way to manipulate quarks or gluons for example, or the quantum level more efficiently. There would be definitely more things we could do.

 

The more you can control or adjust at small scales, the greater effect you can have at greater scales.

[Terwin]

On 8/27/2023 at 11:55 AM, Spacescifi said:

Or we might discover something we can exploit and develop.

Imagine if we found a way to manipulate quarks or gluons for example, or the quantum level more efficiently. There would be definitely more things we could do.

If you already had an answer you wanted, why bother to ask other people?

And if you want realistic answers, why respond with your own hope-based answer?

[Kerbart]

On 8/27/2023 at 12:20 PM, Vanamonde said:

Making that more efficient would decrease the cost of research, but I don't think there's any practical application. 

As a taxpayer I regard that a very practical application.

[NFUN]

Collide atoms reasonably efficiently

[Arugela]

On 8/25/2023 at 3:31 PM, Spacescifi said:

Particle colliders do not count because they have a low hit rate and arguably miss far more than they hit.

 

If had a scifi atomic collider which could collide atoms with great efficiency... what could we do?

 

Science? Technology,

I was similarly curious if you could take metallic hydrogen and have a frame of solid metalic hydrogen and liquid metallic hydrogen in place of gaseous hydrogen like in a fusion generator to speed up the same thing basically. Could it naturally create fusion/fission without the need to collect radiation. Just recycle it.

Would a denser material increase collision by simply having more atoms?

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Arugela