Hi can someone help me with this? I know it is not necessarily R&S, but there is more traffic here............

Question

I was having a coversation via e-mail with a friend and we were talking about hydrogen as the way of the future for our energy needs and I was doing some research and compiled this information.

Is my math correct?

A given weight of Deuterium (H2) also called Heavy Hydrogen, can produce about 4 times as much energy as the same weight of Uranium. Fissioning of 1 pound of (0.45 Kilograms) of Uranium produces as much energy as burning 1,140 short tons (1030 metric tons) or 2,280,000 pounds of coal. A short ton in America = 2000 pounds.

So to help you do the math:
If you have X pounds of Deuterium, it produces 4 times the energy of Uranium which produces as much energy as burning 1,140 short tons of Coal.

That means 1 pound of Deuterium = the same as fissioning 4 pounds of Uranium which = Burning 4,560 Short tons or 9,120,000 pounds of coal.

1 short ton = 20,754,000 BTU's (BTU = British Thermal Units = A BTU is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound avoirdupois of water by one degree Fahrenheit. 143 BTU is required to melt a pound of ice.)
(1 BTU = 1055 joules)

20,754,000 BTU = 21,869.63 megajoules (Megajoule = 1,000,000 Joules). 1 kilowatt-hour = 3,412 BTU.


1 joule = 1 watt second ( watt second = a unit of electrical energy equal to the work done when a current of one ampere passes through a resistance of one ohm for one second. )

1 ampere = 1 coulomb (6.28 x 1018 electrons) per second.

1 ohm = The unit of measure of electrical resistance. ( One volt will force a current of one ampere through a resistance of one ohm.)

1 volt = the force required to send one ampere of electrical current through a resistance of one ohm. It is analogous to water pressure in pounds per square inch. A unit of electrical pressure measuring the force or push of electricity. Volts x amps=watts. The terms potential, electromotive force (emf), and voltage are often used interchangeably. Also is = to performing one joule of work to move or separate one coulomb (6.25 x 1,018) of electrons. 1 Joule = 1/1055 or 0.000947867 BTU's.

1 watt = one joule per second, 1/746th horsepower. Volts x Amps x PF = Watts. (Note: For AC (AC = Alternate Current) circuits, PF (Power Factor) must be included.) Also = 107 ergs per second. Commonly used to define the rate of electricity consumption of an electric appliance. One watt of power is expended when one ampere of direct current flows through a resistance of one ohm.

Power factor = The ratio between Watts (Active or True power) and Volt-Amperes (Apparent power). The Power Factor has a value somewhere between zero and one. This ratio is generally expressed as a decimal fraction.The distribution utility has to provide equipment that will carry Amps, and if the Power Factor is poor (less than about 0.9), the distribution network is inefficient. A power factor of 1.00 is unity. A device such as a ballast( Ballast = device that controls currents in lamps) that measures 120 volts, 1 amp, and 60 watts has a power factor of 50% (volts x amps = 120 VA, therefore 60 watts/120 VA = 0.5).

1 erg = In terms of the joule, 1 erg equals 0.0000001 joule.

There is much more, but I think this is more than enough for what we want to do.

O.K. if we fuse 1 pound of Deuterium, that will produce 99,848,642.8 Megajoules of energy or 27,735,734.1 Kilowatt-hours.

1 watt-hour is equivalent to 1 watt of power used for 1 hour. This is equivalent to 3,600 joules. So, 1 kilowatt-hour is = to 1000 watts of power used for 1 hour and this is the equivalent of 3,600,000 joules.

Thanks for any help you can give....

and there should be a comma between, "Hi" and "can"...

Answer 1

The basic approach is sound, the major gap is that you haven't specified the particular nuclear reaction in which the deuterium engages. The basic idea, that nuclear fusion of deuterium (or other light isotopes) can produce lots of energy, indeed more per pound than uranium, is correct. There is, however, one small flaw: at the moment, unless you are trying to blow up something really big, we don't know how to do it. Scientists have been working on the problem for decades, and we are not even close to a solution.

Answer 2

It would help to know what you are trying to solve.

Are you trying to determine the amount of work, in joules, that 1 pound of Deuterium could theoretically produce?

Are you trying to convince someone that it is a good idea to pursue the fissioning of Deuterium to produce energy?

First, the symbol for deuterium is not H2 but 2H, since it is an isotope of hydrogen, not a compound of hydrogen atoms. Many simply use the symbol D instead. It occurs naturally as either 2H2 or D2.

Although the use of deuterium for commercial power is plausible, that is not how it is now used. It's primary purpose has been to make heavy water.

Presently, no fusion reactions have been made on a commercial scale, so I'm still not certain what it is you are trying to prove?

Answer 3

Hydrogen fuel cells are not about fusion. They are about taking hydrogen and oxygen and making water. See the article on fuel cells at Wikipedia.

If fusion ever becomes commercially useful, don't worry. There will be lots of energy from that. Read the details in Wikipedia or many other places.

Answer 4

I haven't checked your math because I already know that to create your deuterium you will have to expend energy. The whole hydrogen hype is just moving the problem somewhere else.

Answer 5

It has the most traffic on YA? Most of the questions are by atheists about Christianity. I think it proves the global appeal of atheism on R&S to evangelize against Christianity .

Answer 6

The real question is could anyone actually provide a alternate energy source without "big company" assassinating them

Answer 7

I think the best thing your gonna get from RS is maybe a prayer that someone in the physics section would actually read all that if you reposted it there.

Answer 8

You really should take this over to the physics section. The people that frequent there will have a much better idea of what you are talking about.

Answer 9

You forgot to tell the fahrenheit to Celcius conversion.

Answer 10

Honey, you're talking science to a bunch of religion folk. All you need to know is God created the heaven and earth in 6 days.