The standard of
living in a society is measured by the amount of energy consumed. In the
present scenario where the conventional fuels are getting depleted at a very
fast rate the current energy reserves are not expected to last for more than
100 years. Improving the harnessing efficiency of non-conventional energy
sources like solar, wind etc. as a substitute for the conventional sources is
under research.
One of the
conventional methods of producing bulk energy is nuclear power. There are two
types of nuclear reactions, namely fission & fusion. They are accompanied
by the generation of enormous quantity of energy. The energy comes from a
minute fraction of the original mass converting according to Einstein’s famous
law: E=mc2, where E represents energy, m is the mass and c is the speed of
light. In fission reaction, certain heavy atoms, such as uranium is split by
neutrons releasing huge amount of energy. It also results in waste products of
radioactive elements that take thousands of years to decay. The fusion
reactions, in which simple atomic nuclei are fused together to form complex
nuclei, are also referred to as thermonuclear reactions. The more important of
these fusion reactions are those in which hydrogen isotopes fuse to form
helium. The Sun’s energy is ultimately due to gigantic thermonuclear
reaction.The waste products from the fusion plants would be short lived,
decaying to non-dangerous levels in a decade or two. It produces more energy
than fission but the main problem of fusion reaction is to create an atmosphere
of very high temperature and pressure like that in the Sun.
A new step that has
developed in this field is ‘Bubble Power’-the revolutionary new energy source.
It is working under the principle of Sonofusion. For several years Sonofusion
research team from various organizations have joined forces to create Acoustic
Fusion Technology Energy Consortium (AFTEC) to promote the development of
sonofusion. It was derived from a related phenomenon known as sonoluminescence.
Sonofusion involves tiny bubbles imploded by sound waves that can make hydrogen
nuclei fuse and may one day become a revolutionary new energy source.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
To make the fusion
reaction fully self-sustaining arranging the setup so it produces a continuous
neutron output without requiring the external neutron generator. One of the
possible ways is to put two complete apparatuses side by side so that they
would exchange neutrons and drive each other’s fusion reactions. Imagine two
adjacent sonofusion setups with just one difference: when the liquid pressure
is low in one, it is high in the other. That is, their pressure oscillations
are 180 degrees out of phase. Suppose hit the first apparatus with neutrons
from the external neutron generator, causing the bubble cluster to form inside
the first flask. Then turn off the neutron generator permanently. As the bubble
cluster grows and then implodes, it will give off neutrons, some of which will
hit the neighboring flask. If all is right, the neutrons will hit the second
flask at the exact moment when it is at the lowest pressure, so that it creates
a bubble cluster there. If the process repeats, get a self-sustaining chain
reaction.
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