fusion can solve the world's energy problem for the next few thousand years and can be a substitute for petroleum or natural gas ?
2007-12-23 19:53:48 · 5 answers · asked by lucifer 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
Mineral samples from the moon contain abundant quantities of helium-3, a variant of the gas used in lasers and refrigerators.
"When compared to the earth the moon has a tremendous amount of helium-3," Lawrence Taylor, a director of the US Planetary Geosciences Institute, said.
"When helium-3 combines with deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen) the fusion reaction proceeds at a very high temperature and it can produce awesome amounts of energy.
"Just 25 tonnes of helium, which can be transported on a space shuttle, is enough to provide electricity for the US for one full year."
Helium-3 is deposited on the lunar surface by solar winds and would have to be extracted from moon soil and rocks.
To extract helium-3 gas the rocks have to be heated above 800 degrees Celsius.
Dr Taylor says 200 million tonnes of lunar soil would produce one tonne of helium.
Only 10 kilograms of helium-3 are available on earth.
2007-12-24 17:54:24 · answer #1 · answered by sb 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is what I here ,,,,,,,,the race is on
helium3 is emitted from the sun and trapped in the soil,,,,,but on earth the atmosphere burns it up
the moon has no protection
several countries are in planning of ways the mine it
2007-12-24 10:26:00 · answer #2 · answered by Arthurlikesbeer 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
seems interesting.
but whose going to get that. will we have to draw boundaries over the star or will it be first come first exploit the whole resource. or war over the issue.
in such a scenario it will be a good lesson for the US for having used other countries oil resources until now and for having kept its oil resources intact. for there will be abundance substitute energy resources as u suggest and then the americans will have to drink their oil or use it in cooking. nice recipe.
2007-12-24 04:08:42 · answer #3 · answered by jaiswalhema 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
well yes i have also heard of same and india is planning to retrieve it as soon as possible as it will be cheaper and pollution free
2007-12-24 04:04:01 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
here's something to read about it....
http://www.asi.org/adb/02/09/he3-intro.html
more.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3
2007-12-24 08:22:45 · answer #5 · answered by meanolmaw 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋