Morbius
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CrazedMathematician said:Back on the topic of fusion...
Dr. Greenman,
I'm an undergrad in math, but one of my fascinations is with fusion, which I read as much as I can find on. I have a question regarding radiation losses in the plasma. From what I've read, one of the major losses is bremsstrahlung radiation caused by the braking of the ions by the electrons. Yet, every fusion device I've seen uses a neutral plasma. My question is, why isn't a nonneutral, pure ion plasma used for fusion? Without electrons, bremsstrahlung losses are eliminated. Sorry if the question is stupid or obvious, it's just been nagging me and I had to ask. :)
CrazedMathematician,
As Davorak has already correctly pointed out - a pure ion plasma would
have a very high electric field, and there's the problem of how to make
that pure ion plasma.
Additionally, you think we've got problems now trying to confine an
electrically neutral plasma - it's going to be even tougher when you
have a plasma of particles that are all repelling each other without
any electrons to mitigate the repulsion.
Additionally, you don't eliminate bremstrahlung. You get bremstrahlung
any time you accelerate a charged particle. That is, any time, a charged
particle speeds up, slows down, or changes direction - it is accelerating -
and it will radiate. Unless you have a collisionless plasma - your ions
are going to be colliding.
You are going to get bremstrahlung losses due to ion-ion interactions.
Although in a neutral plasma, the electron-ion interactions are dominant,
the elimination of the electrons doesn't eliminate bremstrahlung - only
the dominant piece of it.
Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist