What sort of plant was Edgewater?
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What sort of plant was Edgewater?
I recently re-read (for probably the fourth time) Solar Alpha and Omega and #s 1 - 4.
One thing jumped out at me - twice, anti-proton pumps are mentioned as part of the equipment, but they call the plant a fusion plant. But - in fusion, at least regular, run of the mill matter fusion, you would not use anti-protons.
If they were doing anti-matter fusion, there might be anti-proton radicals by themselves, but it would be much easier to deal with anti-matter alpha particles (two anti-protons, two anti-neutrons), but anti-matter is difficult to make and would yield the same amount of energy as fusing matter. In fact, you'd probably end up with a net negative yield of energy, definitely not something desirable for a power plant.
If it was an anti-matter plant, one that got energy out of particle/anti-particle annihilation, then anti-protons (negatrons) would make sense. They would be a little bit easier to deal with than anti-electrons (positrons) and the yield would be greater per particle/anti-particle annihilation event than when using positrons, but accordingly they would require more energy to make them and it's not like there's an anti-matter mine on the surface of the earth or even a readily known supply of them in the known universe (all fanciful theories aside).
One thing jumped out at me - twice, anti-proton pumps are mentioned as part of the equipment, but they call the plant a fusion plant. But - in fusion, at least regular, run of the mill matter fusion, you would not use anti-protons.
If they were doing anti-matter fusion, there might be anti-proton radicals by themselves, but it would be much easier to deal with anti-matter alpha particles (two anti-protons, two anti-neutrons), but anti-matter is difficult to make and would yield the same amount of energy as fusing matter. In fact, you'd probably end up with a net negative yield of energy, definitely not something desirable for a power plant.
If it was an anti-matter plant, one that got energy out of particle/anti-particle annihilation, then anti-protons (negatrons) would make sense. They would be a little bit easier to deal with than anti-electrons (positrons) and the yield would be greater per particle/anti-particle annihilation event than when using positrons, but accordingly they would require more energy to make them and it's not like there's an anti-matter mine on the surface of the earth or even a readily known supply of them in the known universe (all fanciful theories aside).
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