C60 + DT Fusion: Can Buckyballs Squeeze Hydrogen to Metallic State?

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In summary, these new buckyballs are promising candidates for achieving metallic hydrogen, which would make for a much more stable form of nuclear fusion.
  • #1
sanman
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What do you all think about this?

http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Storage-Method-Turns-Hydrogen-Metallic-81313.shtml

http://nanotechnologytoday.blogspot.com/2008/04/tiny-buckyballs-squeeze-hydrogen-like.html

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/4256976.html [Broken]

Metallic hydrogen is even more dense than frozen hydrogen. So far, nobody has ever been able to squeeze hydrogen densely enough to achieve a metallic state. But the graphene/nanotubes/buckyballs are newer and game-changing.

What if you could pack lots deuterium and tritium inside these buckyballs, squeezing these heavy isotopes into ultra-dense metal form? And furthermore, what if you attempted experiments like Taleyarkhan et al did, using ultrasound waves to further collide and compress them? The buckyballs are supposed to be quite physically robust, and able to withstand impacts at huge velocities:

http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/fullerenes.html

About a billionth of a meter in diameter, they are incredibly stable-- slammed against a steel surface at 17,000 miles per hour, they bounce off undisturbed.

They might be able to survive ultrasonic compression.

Also, buckyballs have photonic resonance capable of making them expand and contract rhythmically:

http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/sabl/2005/May/06-buckyballs.html

The continuous beam of [buckyball] ions interacts with the photon beam as it is tuned through a range of values, from less than 20 eV to more than 70 eV.
...
The second resonance in C-60, occurring at a photon energy of 38 eV, is called a volume plasmon — not a back-and-forth oscillation of the valence electron cloud but rather an in-and-out contortion, like squeezing a beach ball.

What if you were to resort to this form of compression too?

I'm thinking that all of these things together could result in a nuclear fusion process.


Comments? Let me know what you think.
 
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  • #2
Difficult to say, but in order for fusion to happen, one needs to give of the order of several tens of KeV to each particle. We seem to be talking about a few tens of eV. You may be impressed by 17 000 miles an hour, but in fact that's kinetic energy which is of the order of just a few eV per particle (a neutron at ~4000 miles an hour has *thermal* energies of the order of 0.03 eV).

Of course, I can't really say anything about metallic hydrogen, bucky balls and all that, but when I look at the per particle energy scale, I would think we're still far away from any fusion energy scale.
 
  • #3
Well, so then your sonofusion-style oscillations are capped by the structural strength of the buckyballs.

But perhaps you could synchronize the sonofusion-style oscillation/compression cycles with the photon-induced volume plasmon resonance cycles, to time them to coincide with each other.

And maybe in addition to that, you could also fire pulses of an intense muon-beam into the system in synchronized fashion, to let muons catalyze D-T fusions at the peak of the oscillations, right when the atoms are compressed to maximum density.

There's no reason why these various approaches have to be mutually exclusive, when they could be combined together, particularly making use of time synching. Sometimes the "whole is greater than the sum of the parts" (ie. the use of these things in concert could have a better chance of surpassing breakeven than each alone could)
 

1. What is C60 + DT fusion?

C60 + DT fusion is a type of fusion reaction where carbon-60 (C60) molecules are bombarded with deuterium-tritium (DT) atoms, resulting in the formation of a new, heavier element.

2. Can buckyballs squeeze hydrogen to a metallic state?

Yes, when C60 + DT fusion occurs, the deuterium and tritium atoms fuse with the carbon atoms in the buckyball, creating a new, heavier element. This new element has metallic properties, including the ability to conduct electricity.

3. How does the fusion process work?

The fusion process begins with the acceleration of deuterium and tritium atoms towards the carbon-60 molecules. When these atoms collide with the buckyballs, they fuse together, releasing a large amount of energy in the form of heat and light. This energy is what drives the transformation of the carbon-60 into a metallic state.

4. What are the potential applications of C60 + DT fusion?

C60 + DT fusion has the potential to be a clean and efficient energy source, as it produces large amounts of energy without emitting harmful byproducts like greenhouse gases. It could also be used in spacecraft propulsion and nuclear weapons.

5. What are the challenges of achieving C60 + DT fusion?

The main challenge of C60 + DT fusion is the high temperatures and pressures required for the reaction to occur. These conditions are difficult to create and control, making it a complex and expensive process. Additionally, the fusion reaction must be sustained for a significant amount of time in order to produce a significant amount of energy.

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