Minisode 175 - Invisibility Shields Are Real and You Can Buy Them
Added 2024-04-06 23:46:00 +0000 UTCComments
Also look up a Mantis Shrimp, Jesse. The size of the object and it's level of generated heat matters
Mailman Ryan
2024-04-09 18:16:06 +0000 UTCHey guys! I'm a materials engineer, so thought I'd address your questions about fusion temperatures. While Jesse is correct that materials on earth cannot resist the temperature that fusion reaches, the key is preventing the walls of the reactor from reaching that temperature (or anywhere close). Heat is transferred through conduction (direct contact), convection (airflow), and infrared radiation. The vacuum and magnetic fields that Alex mentioned solve the first two - no air means no convection and the magnetic field prevents the plasma from touching the walls. Infrared is managed by making the walls reflective and/providing active cooling. This is basically the same way water cooled cpus work - by running a steady stream of water through the system, you prevent the system from reaching a temperature that can damage anything. Heat transfer is also related to relative masses of objects, so small amounts of hydrogen won't be able to heat the entire reactor very quickly. If you've ever noticed that touching a hit oven tray will burn you, but you can easily touch a piece of aluminum foil sitting on the tray, you can understand how this works. If the system is designed correctly, the reactor structure should never be exposed to even an appreciable fraction of the full heat.
Chris
2024-04-08 01:18:13 +0000 UTC
