Could these conditions initiate or facilitate nuclear fusion, as suggested in the recent movie “Chain Reaction”?
A detailed discussion of the physics of sonoluminescence can be found in the article “Sonoluminescence: Sound into Light,” by Seth J. Putterman (Scientific American, February 1995. In it, the author outlines a different interpretation of the phenomenon from the one given below, though he agrees that the likelihood of getting fusion to occur in sonoluminescence bubbles is insignificant. Andrea Prosperetti in the department of mechanical engineering at the Johns Hopkins University has studied this question in detail. He responds: “It must first of all be stressed that the ‘extremely high temperatures’ referred to are, at least for now, speculation. While many researchers would concede temperatures of up to, say, 10,000 kelvins (which is way too low for nuclear fusion), a much smaller number would feel comfortable with temperatures in the millions of degrees range. The computations that indicate such extreme conditions inside a pulsating bubble are based on rather extreme idealizations. “
Related Questions
- Do Different Goal-Setting Conditions Facilitate Students Ability to Regulate Their Learning of Complex Science Topics with RiverWeb?
- Could these conditions initiate or facilitate nuclear fusion, as suggested in the recent movie "Chain Reaction"?
- What conditions must exist to initiate nasogastric (NG) feeding in the eating disorder patient?
