Test result details - they detected light as well?

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 9:32 pm

I'm guessing that the low power run @ 5kv was the one that didn't generate much light.

? ? ?

TallDave · Post by **TallDave** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:13 am

Hey, what's the energy produced by WB-6? Is it even enough to make a light?

What does 1E9 fusions per sec work out to in watts?

TallDave · Post by **TallDave** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:31 am

I get 1E+9 fusions x 17.6 MeV per fusion x 1.6E-19 eV per joule = .00282 joules/second = .00282 watts. Seems pretty dim.

pstudier · Post by **pstudier** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:58 am

TallDave wrote:I get 1E+9 fusions x 17.6 MeV per fusion x 1.6E-19 eV per joule = .00282 joules/second = .00282 watts. Seems pretty dim.

He used D-D, so two fusions per neutron, and about 0.001 watts. With D-T he would probably get 10 to 30 times as much fusion, but tritium is too much trouble for an experiment.

drmike · Post by **drmike** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:17 am

I thought it was on for only a few microseconds, so you have to divide by 1e-6 which gets you up to 1kW instantaneous power. That's not too bad a flash bulb.

scareduck · Post by **scareduck** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:32 am

TallDave's original calculation is correct. If you read the transcript of Bussard's video, it's clear he was extrapolating those three neutrons back to a per second number, so

P = 1e9 fusions/s * 17.6 MeV/fusion * 1.6e-19 J/eV = 2.82 mW

Q << 1.

Edit: Fixed the Joules/eV units. It all comes out in the wash if you remember the units.

drmike · Post by **drmike** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:34 am

OK, duty cycle already accounted for. The light does not come from fusion energy.

Plenty of other energy available in the electron current.

TallDave · Post by **TallDave** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:47 pm

pstudier wrote:He used D-D, so two fusions per neutron, and about 0.001 watts.

Ah yes, good point.

PMTs are probably sensitive to detect that, but reading through the notes again it seems more likely their point is just that the light pulse was indicative of the conditions that were likely for fusion, making it additional evidence that the neutron counts were not just noise as they happened simultaneously with the light pulses.