My Goofy fusion scheme
Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 1:37 am
I didn't post this in the theory section because it is probably rather dumb but maybe it is worth something for amusement.
Have you considered the havoc you could cause if you intentionally, optimally, and purposefully cause the phenomenon of water hammer?
http://easycalculation.com/physics/flui ... crease.php
Lets say you had a 40 meter long opposing polarity Lorentz force railgun, that shot 2 multi meter long streams of liquid mercury together at speeds of a few kilometers per second. The pressures developed in the shock wave would be tremendous. I think a million atmospheres could be attained this way. Fill the void between the streams with the fusion fuel of your choice and smash away. Compression heating would be severe thought I don't know exactly how hot it could get or if thermal conductivity would kill the whole silly idea. I know of a material that could theoretically withstand the shock wave at the epicenter, but at this time it has not been realized. A variation on the epicenter structure material could contain boron, a potential thermonuclear fuel but temperatures would probably be far to low. This epicenter material has a radial thermal conductivity similar to glass yet axially its thermal conductivity is better than copper. When you take a kilogram of a high bulk modulus liquid like mercury and slam them together at huge speeds it doesn't quite bounce apart. its like a train collision except the train is forced to stay dead on the tracks. The caboose doesn't want to stop moving just because the engine did. I'm not sure how to do the proper calculations because as in the case of the calculator link above, there really is no valve closure time, its instant. And I have a hard time believing the pressure increase is infinite
But it has to be hella huge
Have you considered the havoc you could cause if you intentionally, optimally, and purposefully cause the phenomenon of water hammer?
http://easycalculation.com/physics/flui ... crease.php
Lets say you had a 40 meter long opposing polarity Lorentz force railgun, that shot 2 multi meter long streams of liquid mercury together at speeds of a few kilometers per second. The pressures developed in the shock wave would be tremendous. I think a million atmospheres could be attained this way. Fill the void between the streams with the fusion fuel of your choice and smash away. Compression heating would be severe thought I don't know exactly how hot it could get or if thermal conductivity would kill the whole silly idea. I know of a material that could theoretically withstand the shock wave at the epicenter, but at this time it has not been realized. A variation on the epicenter structure material could contain boron, a potential thermonuclear fuel but temperatures would probably be far to low. This epicenter material has a radial thermal conductivity similar to glass yet axially its thermal conductivity is better than copper. When you take a kilogram of a high bulk modulus liquid like mercury and slam them together at huge speeds it doesn't quite bounce apart. its like a train collision except the train is forced to stay dead on the tracks. The caboose doesn't want to stop moving just because the engine did. I'm not sure how to do the proper calculations because as in the case of the calculator link above, there really is no valve closure time, its instant. And I have a hard time believing the pressure increase is infinite
But it has to be hella huge