# 22.5 Fusion  (Page 5/12)

 Page 5 / 12

## Calculating energy and power from fusion

(a) Calculate the energy released by the fusion of a 1.00-kg mixture of deuterium and tritium, which produces helium. There are equal numbers of deuterium and tritium nuclei in the mixture.

(b) If this takes place continuously over a period of a year, what is the average power output?

Strategy

According to ${}^{2}\text{H}+{}^{3}\text{H}\to {}^{4}\text{He}+n$ , the energy per reaction is 17.59 MeV. To find the total energy released, we must find the number of deuterium and tritium atoms in a kilogram. Deuterium has an atomic mass of about 2 and tritium has an atomic mass of about 3, for a total of about 5 g per mole of reactants or about 200 mol in 1.00 kg. To get a more precise figure, we will use the atomic masses from Appendix A. The power output is best expressed in watts, and so the energy output needs to be calculated in joules and then divided by the number of seconds in a year.

Solution for (a)

The atomic mass of deuterium ( ${}^{2}\text{H}$ ) is 2.014102 u, while that of tritium ( ${}^{3}\text{H}$ ) is 3.016049 u, for a total of 5.032151 u per reaction. So a mole of reactants has a mass of 5.03 g, and in 1.00 kg there are $\left(\text{1000 g}\right)/\left(\text{5.03 g/mol}\right)\text{=198}\text{.}8 mol of reactants$ . The number of reactions that take place is therefore

$\left(\text{198.8 mol}\right)\left(6\text{.}\text{02}×{\text{10}}^{\text{23}}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}{\text{mol}}^{-1}\right)=1.20×{\text{10}}^{\text{26}}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{reactions}.$

The total energy output is the number of reactions times the energy per reaction:

$\begin{array}{}E=\left(1.20×{\text{10}}^{\text{26}}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{reactions}\right)\left(\text{17.59 MeV/reaction}\right)\left(1.602×{\text{10}}^{-\text{13}}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{J/MeV}\right)\\ \text{}=3\text{.}\text{37}×{\text{10}}^{\text{14}}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{J}\text{.}\end{array}$

Solution for (b)

Power is energy per unit time. One year has $3\text{.}\text{16}×{\text{10}}^{7}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{s}$ , so

$\begin{array}{lll}P& =& \frac{E}{t}=\frac{3\text{.}\text{37}×{\text{10}}^{\text{14}}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{J}}{3\text{.}\text{16}×{\text{10}}^{7}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{s}}\\ & =& \text{}1\text{.}\text{07}×{\text{10}}^{7}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{W}=\text{10}\text{.}7\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{MW}\text{.}\end{array}$

Discussion

By now we expect nuclear processes to yield large amounts of energy, and we are not disappointed here. The energy output of $3\text{.}\text{37}×{\text{10}}^{\text{14}}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{J}$ from fusing 1.00 kg of deuterium and tritium is equivalent to 2.6 million gallons of gasoline and about eight times the energy output of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Yet the average backyard swimming pool has about 6 kg of deuterium in it, so that fuel is plentiful if it can be utilized in a controlled manner. The average power output over a year is more than 10 MW, impressive but a bit small for a commercial power plant. About 32 times this power output would allow generation of 100 MW of electricity, assuming an efficiency of one-third in converting the fusion energy to electrical energy.

## Section summary

• Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two nuclei are combined to form a larger nucleus. It releases energy when light nuclei are fused to form medium-mass nuclei.
• Fusion is the source of energy in stars, with the proton-proton cycle,

being the principal sequence of energy-producing reactions in our Sun.

• The overall effect of the proton-proton cycle is

where the 26.7 MeV includes the energy of the positrons emitted and annihilated.

• Attempts to utilize controlled fusion as an energy source on Earth are related to deuterium and tritium, and the reactions play important roles.
• Ignition is the condition under which controlled fusion is self-sustaining; it has not yet been achieved. Break-even, in which the fusion energy output is as great as the external energy input, has nearly been achieved.
• Magnetic confinement and inertial confinement are the two methods being developed for heating fuel to sufficiently high temperatures, at sufficient density, and for sufficiently long times to achieve ignition. The first method uses magnetic fields and the second method uses the momentum of impinging laser beams for confinement.

#### Questions & Answers

Is there any normative that regulates the use of silver nanoparticles?
what king of growth are you checking .?
Renato
What fields keep nano created devices from performing or assimulating ? Magnetic fields ? Are do they assimilate ?
why we need to study biomolecules, molecular biology in nanotechnology?
?
Kyle
yes I'm doing my masters in nanotechnology, we are being studying all these domains as well..
why?
what school?
Kyle
biomolecules are e building blocks of every organics and inorganic materials.
Joe
anyone know any internet site where one can find nanotechnology papers?
research.net
kanaga
sciencedirect big data base
Ernesto
Introduction about quantum dots in nanotechnology
what does nano mean?
nano basically means 10^(-9). nanometer is a unit to measure length.
Bharti
do you think it's worthwhile in the long term to study the effects and possibilities of nanotechnology on viral treatment?
absolutely yes
Daniel
how to know photocatalytic properties of tio2 nanoparticles...what to do now
it is a goid question and i want to know the answer as well
Maciej
characteristics of micro business
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Anassong
Do somebody tell me a best nano engineering book for beginners?
there is no specific books for beginners but there is book called principle of nanotechnology
NANO
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are you nano engineer ?
s.
fullerene is a bucky ball aka Carbon 60 molecule. It was name by the architect Fuller. He design the geodesic dome. it resembles a soccer ball.
Tarell
what is the actual application of fullerenes nowadays?
Damian
That is a great question Damian. best way to answer that question is to Google it. there are hundreds of applications for buck minister fullerenes, from medical to aerospace. you can also find plenty of research papers that will give you great detail on the potential applications of fullerenes.
Tarell
what is the Synthesis, properties,and applications of carbon nano chemistry
Mostly, they use nano carbon for electronics and for materials to be strengthened.
Virgil
is Bucky paper clear?
CYNTHIA
carbon nanotubes has various application in fuel cells membrane, current research on cancer drug,and in electronics MEMS and NEMS etc
NANO
so some one know about replacing silicon atom with phosphorous in semiconductors device?
Yeah, it is a pain to say the least. You basically have to heat the substarte up to around 1000 degrees celcius then pass phosphene gas over top of it, which is explosive and toxic by the way, under very low pressure.
Harper
Do you know which machine is used to that process?
s.
how to fabricate graphene ink ?
for screen printed electrodes ?
SUYASH
What is lattice structure?
of graphene you mean?
Ebrahim
or in general
Ebrahim
in general
s.
Graphene has a hexagonal structure
tahir
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Cied
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Difference between extinct and extici spicies
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How we can create polaidal magnetic field
4
Because I'm writing a report and I would like to be really precise for the references
where did you find the research and the first image (ECG and Blood pressure synchronized)? Thank you!!