What is the Ideal Plasma Pressure for Successful Fusion?

In summary, fusion involves considerations of ion density and confinement time, as well as temperature and pressure. While pressure can be calculated from density and temperature, it is not always expressed in pascals. The minimum pressure for DT fusion is not specified, but it is usually around 2 atm, with ITER aiming for 90 kPa. Temperatures need to be around 100 million K for successful fusion.
  • #1
korneld
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I am trying to wrap my head around the concepts in fusion. They talk about ion density, but I don't ever see that expressed in pascals, for instance. Why is that? I understand that confinment time is also important for successful fusion and that they go hand in hand, but I'm not concerned about that right now.
 
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  • #2
Density and temperature fix the pressure, no need to use all three parameters, but you can find pressure values. 200 kPa here, for example.
 
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  • #3
mfb said:
Density and temperature fix the pressure, no need to use all three parameters, but you can find pressure values. 200 kPa here, for example.

OK, cool. Thanks. With this in mind, what is the minimum pressure and temp at which DT fusion occurs? They talk about the record of 2 atm, but they don't say how far off they were.
 
  • #4
There is no minimum pressure but it should be roughly in that range. ITER aims at 90 kPa as far as I know.
Temperatures need to be around 100 million K.
 

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