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Helium 3 the next oil!?

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    #2
    CreepingDeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,016 ✭✭✭CreepingDeath


    jonbravo wrote: »
    Helium 3 the next oil!?

    It'll probably make car engines sound all funny and high-pitched.


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    #3
    Joey the lips
    Registered Users Posts: 10,262 ✭✭✭✭Joey the lips


    I think the subject of this is very interesting. Would love to know more but dont think the experts will till they produce the first fusion reacton with it.


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    #4
    Professor_Fink
    Registered Users Posts: 861 ✭✭✭Professor_Fink


    Joey the lips wrote: »
    I think the subject of this is very interesting. Would love to know more but dont think the experts will till they produce the first fusion reacton with it.

    Fusion reactions have already been achieved in research reactors. In fact, they have even managed to get out more power than was put in, but we have yet to see a sustained reaction.


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    #5
    jonbravo
    Registered Users Posts: 635 ✭✭✭jonbravo


    Professor_Fink wrote: »
    Fusion reactions have already been achieved in research reactors. In fact, they have even managed to get out more power than was put in, but we have yet to see a sustained reaction.
    Why is this so!?


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    #6
    Professor_Fink
    Registered Users Posts: 861 ✭✭✭Professor_Fink


    jonbravo wrote: »
    Why is this so!?

    None of the reactors used so far have been designed to sustain a reaction. It's really hard to do, and it is only recently that there has been any success.


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    #7
    cautioner
    Closed Accounts Posts: 862 ✭✭✭cautioner


    So how promising/achievable is fusion thought to be in the near future?


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    #8
    Professor_Fink
    Registered Users Posts: 861 ✭✭✭Professor_Fink


    cautioner wrote: »
    So how promising/achievable is fusion thought to be in the near future?

    I think 50 years is probably a realistic time line.


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    #9
    Joey the lips
    Registered Users Posts: 10,262 ✭✭✭✭Joey the lips


    I read that the reason it is proving difficult to produce fusion is that the energy has to be contained between magnetic fields. This is proving the difficult bit!

    No material is strong enough to take the massive heat.

    Hope it happens in my life time.


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    #10
    jonbravo
    Registered Users Posts: 635 ✭✭✭jonbravo


    Joey the lips wrote: »
    I read that the reason it is proving difficult to produce fusion is that the energy has to be contained between magnetic fields. This is proving the difficult bit!

    No material is strong enough to take the massive heat.

    Hope it happens in my life time.
    in my opinion it will happen,in less then 30 years...:eek:


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    #11
    bonkey
    Registered Users Posts: 15,443 ✭✭✭✭bonkey


    Professor_Fink wrote: »
    I think 50 years is probably a realistic time line.

    As its has been for the last 50 years ;)

    Seriously though, even with the likes of ITER under development, there are still serious problems to overcome before fusion can become a practical energy source.


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    #12
    Joey the lips
    Registered Users Posts: 10,262 ✭✭✭✭Joey the lips


    Have to say I have my own theories on this. I think at the back of my mind fussion is closer than we know. Think of the amount of money being paid to PREVENT fussion coming around.

    The arabs would be broke overnight.

    Although my car is not worth buying a new engine for :D


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    #13
    Podge_irl
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 25,760 Mod ✭✭✭✭Podge_irl


    Joey the lips wrote: »
    Have to say I have my own theories on this. I think at the back of my mind fussion is closer than we know. Think of the amount of money being paid to PREVENT fussion coming around.

    Yes, cause the middle east is the bastion of scientific research :p


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    #14
    Professor_Fink
    Registered Users Posts: 861 ✭✭✭Professor_Fink


    Joey the lips wrote: »
    Think of the amount of money being paid to PREVENT fussion coming around.

    The arabs would be broke overnight.

    Although my car is not worth buying a new engine for :D

    It seems unlikely that it would seriously impact how cars are fueled, unless we get fuel cells up and running first. There is no way you are fitting a fusion reactor in your car any time soon.


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    #15
    eZe^
    Registered Users Posts: 7,046 ✭✭✭eZe^


    If anyone wants to see a good presentation on Nuclear Fusion then one of our lecturers gave a good general public presentation before.

    http://interactive.ucc.ie/test/new/include/sciencelectures-current.html

    Just click the one called "Nuclear Fusion ? Energy for the Future". It goes into the theory behind Nuclear fusion, the fuels, the limitations, the different machines, how the reaction is started and sustained, etc...


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    #16
    jonbravo
    Registered Users Posts: 635 ✭✭✭jonbravo


    Professor_Fink wrote: »
    None of the reactors used so far have been designed to sustain a reaction. It's really hard to do, and it is only recently that there has been any success.
    but from my understanding thats why helium3 is so sort after, because helium3 is less distructive in a reactor!?hence why were off to the moon!?


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    #17
    jonbravo
    Registered Users Posts: 635 ✭✭✭jonbravo


    jonbravo wrote: »
    but from my understanding thats why helium3 is so sort after, because helium3 is less distructive in a reactor!?hence why were off to the moon!?
    maybe somone can answer that question for me!?
    i believe in ufo's, i believe helium3 to be the next oil or power......
    lets not messi around, their heading to the moon for this stuff come on!?why!?


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    #18
    Decerto
    Registered Users Posts: 309 ✭✭Decerto


    there was a really good horizons documentry called how to build a star on earth with brian cox on all the research in fusion going on atm


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    #19
    Professor_Fink
    Registered Users Posts: 861 ✭✭✭Professor_Fink


    jonbravo wrote: »
    maybe somone can answer that question for me!?
    i believe in ufo's, i believe helium3 to be the next oil or power......

    Really? UFOs?


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    #20
    jonbravo
    Registered Users Posts: 635 ✭✭✭jonbravo


    Professor_Fink wrote: »
    Really? UFOs?
    The possible power behind ufo's.[thats the topic im looking into] other then being equipped with ultra-thin ultra-large sails. and i know im a wildly optimistic dreamer.. think about this, if we had to travel about 4.4 light years away, where could we re-fuel!? or what could we use as fuel which is another question.


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    #21
    Professor_Fink
    Registered Users Posts: 861 ✭✭✭Professor_Fink


    jonbravo wrote: »
    think about this, if we had to travel about 4.4 light years away, where could we re-fuel!?

    Well then it would be a space ship we built, not a UFO. But actually the best source of energy would likely come from reacting matter and antimatter. It is far more efficient. But actually the distance has nothing to do with the fuel required. The inter-stellar medium is so diffuse that there is virtually no resistence, so you only need fuel to accelerate and decelerate, making fuel requirements essentially distance agnostic.


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    #22
    Firefox10
    Closed Accounts Posts: 299 ✭✭Firefox10


    I understand most of this Helium 3 exists on the Moon. It's going to be a very expensive business to get a hold of this Helium3. How can they make that a viable fuel source?


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    #23
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,897 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Firefox10 wrote: »
    I understand most of this Helium 3 exists on the Moon. It's going to be a very expensive business to get a hold of this Helium3. How can they make that a viable fuel source?
    A single stage to orbit spacecraft on the moon only needs 50% of it's mass as fuel. Or you could build mass drivers. And Helium3 is the second lightest known. But would need to create a massive infrastructure to set it up.

    Or

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_space_elevator a lightweight moon stalk would weigh in less than 100tonnes, at the bottom there is a robot with a magnet to attract iron particles and make containers for the Helium 3, I guess would be released when you smelt the rocks or however they want to find it.


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    #24
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,897 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    jonbravo wrote: »
    The possible power behind ufo's.[thats the topic im looking into] other then being equipped with ultra-thin ultra-large sails. and i know im a wildly optimistic dreamer.. think about this, if we had to travel about 4.4 light years away, where could we re-fuel!? or what could we use as fuel which is another question.
    you could use a solar sail , slow down with sunlight


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