[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
RE: starship-design: Apology
Hi Lee,
>Not that I doubt you but, how did you come up with 20 kJ? even allowing
>for only a partial incomplete (messy) reaction I would have assumed it
>would be somewhat more. Of course, I have never really had anything to
>do with antimatter, only nuclear and chemical explosives.
I was a bit messy since I only responded to the prototype they talked about
in the first paragraph:
It is a prototype for a trap, not necessarily any larger,
capable of carrying 10+14 antiprotons for up to 120 days...
That's 1E14*1.67E-27 kg = 1.67E-13 kg
With E=mc^2 that means 15 kJ (How I got 20kJ? I've no idea.)
However at the bottom of the message they talk about an RFQ storage ring
which should hold one microgram (=1E-9 kg).
E=mc^2=(1E-9)*(3E8)^2=9E7 J
So this prototype holds about 9E7 Joule (or 25 kWh). A bit more that the
20kJ but not even enough to keep a regular lightbulb burning for half an hour.
I'm sorry to have made an uncomplete response before.
>As far as the trip to Mars goes, the antiprotons are for ACMF (Antiproton
>Catalyzed Micro Fusion/fission) which is more than adequate for a fast 4
>month trip.
I wonder how much antiprotons they'll need.
Timothy