Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 6:52 pm
Separate topic from the previous post: I had an idea for how to extract the alpha particles from the machine so they don't wind up poisoning the well.
Instead of a solid anode, you create yet another grid anode, charged to a point where almost-but-not-quite all of the energy from the alpha is dumped into it (see previous comment for my confusion for what form the energy gets dumped into the anode--I have faith that somehow it gets there).
Behind the anode, however, you place a thin-walled cathode that's filled with some fluid that's a good He-4 solvent. The cathode is charged up to, say, a couple of hundred volts. (Obviously, the cathode has to be far enough away from the anode to prevent arcing--no idea whether that will be an issue.)
Now, when the alpha gets close to the anode grid, it's got just enough energy to pass through the grid without hitting it (i.e. the grid can deflect the alphas from hitting the wires but can't repel them back towards the center of the well). So the alphas go through the grid and are now attracted to the cathode. When they hit the cathode at fairly low energy, they penetrate the cathode wall, acquire a couple of electrons to become neutral He-4, and wind up dissolved in the solvent.
If you pump the solvent away from the cathode, you can extract the He-4 atoms far away from the polywell and the next time we see them they're in a "get well soon" balloon or allowing somebody to talk funny.
Will this work?
Instead of a solid anode, you create yet another grid anode, charged to a point where almost-but-not-quite all of the energy from the alpha is dumped into it (see previous comment for my confusion for what form the energy gets dumped into the anode--I have faith that somehow it gets there).
Behind the anode, however, you place a thin-walled cathode that's filled with some fluid that's a good He-4 solvent. The cathode is charged up to, say, a couple of hundred volts. (Obviously, the cathode has to be far enough away from the anode to prevent arcing--no idea whether that will be an issue.)
Now, when the alpha gets close to the anode grid, it's got just enough energy to pass through the grid without hitting it (i.e. the grid can deflect the alphas from hitting the wires but can't repel them back towards the center of the well). So the alphas go through the grid and are now attracted to the cathode. When they hit the cathode at fairly low energy, they penetrate the cathode wall, acquire a couple of electrons to become neutral He-4, and wind up dissolved in the solvent.
If you pump the solvent away from the cathode, you can extract the He-4 atoms far away from the polywell and the next time we see them they're in a "get well soon" balloon or allowing somebody to talk funny.
Will this work?