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Commen tary

by Jorma Jyrkkanen

I couldn't believe it. There
was a one-inch long coverage of
this story in the Province recent-
ly.
It should have been front page
and the heading should have

been, ‘A Sun Is Born’ to Ameri- —

can scientists, promising infinite
energy for us all.

Perhaps the common person
is indifferent about any new
developments because they have
learned that all good things have

come to us with negative side- —

effects, like a price tag. .
Even research and develop-

- ment conducted by corporations

is compliments of a higher price
for the products sold.
’ However, hydrogen fusion
reaction, as carried out by the
Americans, heralds a new era
for humanity.

It appears that the Americans

-have succeeded in fusing small

pellets of hydrogen.
For those of you who wonder
what that means, I'll go over it

-as simply as possible, without

resorting to the new “super-
string”’ theory.

Atoms are capable of trans-
mutating (changing) into other
atoms under special conditions

(mostly high temperature

changes) found in nature.
Heavy atoms like uranium,
thorium and actinium are un-

stable naturally on earth and
decay into more stable atoms of
other kinds. .

Light atoms like hydrogen,
helium, carbon, oxygen, silica,
can also be transmutated and
this occurs naturally in the
thermonuclear furnaces of suns

space.

The lighter atoms tend to
change into heavier atoms and
this reaction is called fusion.

. What happens in fusionis that -

the nuclei — the centers of the
atoms — join together to form
larger nuclei or new atoms.

Nuclei are themselves made
up of bundles of energy called
protons and neutrons among
other things.

By increasing the number of
protons, you get heavier and
heavier atoms with different
names and different properties.

Protons have a strong repul-
sion for each other and tend to
fly off if they haven't got a
neutron to ‘neutralize’ that
repulsion.

For that reason, atoms are
more stable if the number of
neutrons equals the number of
protons.

- The hydrogen that we know
most commonly has one proton
and one neutron, and this is fair-
ly stable, because the nuclear

Yoga workshop back
by popular demand

"by Parks and Recreation

contributor Elaine Parmenter

The time.to register is mow!
It’s the last call for signing up
for an exciting weekend
workshop of Iyengar Yoga May
27, 28 and 29. Gail Malizia, an
experienced instructor from

’ Seattle, will be returning to Ter-

race for the third time, back by
popular demand. If you would
really like to make some head-
way in your yoga practice, or
need the inspiration to begin or
continue, then this weekend
workshop is for you.

This workshop will consist of
a series of sessions which will in-
instruction in asanas
(postures), pranayama
(breathing), and discussion of

yoga philosophy and how it ap-
plies to our daily lives. Due to
the nature of the work, it is
preferable that participants at-
tend the entire workshop.
However, if you can attend only
one session, Friday evening
should be your choice. Times
and fees are as follows.

For beginners: Friday, 6:30 [|
p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Fee: $25 for. .

this session.

For intermediates: Saturday,
9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.; 3:30
p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Sunday, 9:30
a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Fee: two days:
$60; whole weekend: $65.

For more information call the
Recreation Office at 638-1174.
But remember, the time to call is
now. Next week will be too late.

Insurance fraud
breaks record

involved. Others claimed lost ~

ICBC and police investiga-
tions into ‘suspicious auto in-
surance claims have resulted ina
record number of criminal
charges being laid in March. A
dozen people face between them
24 counts of fraud in claims

estimated to be worth over ~

$100,000.

This is the largest number of
charges ever laid in one month
involving ICBC insurance fraud.

The police and ICBC’s Special
Investigation Unit uncovered a
variety of fraudulent claims in
the Lower Mainland and on
Vancouver Island. In some

cases, motorists claimed to have

suffered accident injuries when
they were not even in the vehicle

wages due to injuries when, in
fact, they continued to work.
Still others reported theft or hit
and run incidents which never
happened.

According to Walt Bardua,
vice-president of claims, the
charges laid in. March are a
signal that ICBC intends to keep
cracking down on those who
make fraudulent claims. ‘“While
it’s difficult to conclusively
estimate the total cost of auto in-
surance fraud, that cost is
measured in millions of
dollars,”’ says Bardua. ‘‘Fraud
drives up the cost of auto in-
surance for everyone in B.C.” |

forces are balanced.

Hydrogen with two and three
neutrons but only one proton
occur in nature. They are called
deuterium and tritium.

Deuterium can be produced:
by electrolytic splitting of sea
water where it forms 1/5,000th

“Terrace Review — Wednesday, May 4, 1988 9

Nuclear fusion: a worthy target for research

heavy isotopes tend to trans-

mutate towards a more stable |

configuration, by picking up
protons, thereby balancing the
number of protons with
neutrons more perfectly.

By banging nuclei of heavy
hydrogen: together, which have

The deuterium in one gallon of sea water con-
and other celestial objects in tains the energy equivalent of 2,000 gallons of

high test gasoline.

of the hydrogen present.

The deuterium in one gallon
of sea water contains the energy
equivalent of 2,000 gallons of
high test gasoline,

Deuterium is thus cheap and
plentiful.

Tritium, on the other hand,
must be prepared by nuclear
reactions, one of which is the
fusion of beryllium and
deuterium to form tritium and
helium.

Tritium doesn’t occur in
nature on earth under present
conditions, at least in the upper
crust, because of its short half-
life. It’s half-life is 12.26 years,
meaning that it doesn’t stick
around long enough, by earth’s
geological time clock, to be
detected.

Because there are these two
heavy isotopes of hydrogen
available, and because they are
unstable in the nucleus because
of the imbalance between
numbers of neutrons and pro-
tons, this facilitates artificial
‘nuclear transmutation. of these
unstable hydrogens into helium
atoms.

By having a surplus of
neutrons, the nuclei of these

only one proton each, the pro-
tons are able to join in nuclear
reactions’ to create helium
atoms, which have two protons
and three or four neutrons,

Why this is important is
because in the uniting of two
nuclei of deuterium, there is a
liberation of a neutron plus
energy equivalent to 3,27 million
electron volts or about 9 x
10 Joules/gram.

Since 1 Joule is equivalent to
0,239 calories, this means that
one gram will yield the
equivalent of 0.239 cal/J x 9 x
10 10 3/gm = 2.151 x10 10
(or 21,510,000,000 = 21.51
billion) calories of energy.

At 3.086 foot pounds of

work/cal this is equal to 66.349 |

billion foot pounds of work per
gram of deuterium fused!

If I had one gram of this stuff,
I'd never have to lift a finger
again, boring as my life would

become. .

Another desirable reaction
would be where four protons
‘combine to form helium and two
positively charged electrons with
an energy release of 26.7 million
electron volts.

The reason achieving controll-

ed fusion hasn’t been easy, is
because the temperature re-
quired for this deuteron fusion
reaction to take place is 350
million degrees Kelvin, and tap-
ping it tends to lower the
temperature which makes it go
out.

Once the reaction is under-
way, if fuel can be supplied, it
should go on its own heat. _

I will be curious to learn how
the American scientists perpe-
trated a controlled burn of
deuterium; and whether they
have in fact found a way to tap
it.

What kind of vessel, for ex-
ample, will contain a reaction
temperature above 350 million
degrees? is it a magnetic field
within which the reaction oc-
curs?

The attainment of stable fu-
sion carries with it the exciting
promise of liberating us from
dependency on fossil fuels and
eventually, from hydroelectric
generators, if the technology is
clean and safe.

This.is a big if.

If this problem holds true, it
means that we can cease damn-
ing rivers and flooding
agricultural, recreational,
residential and wildlife habitats.

We can significantly reduce
the polluting of the air, soil and
water with undesirable side pro-
ducts of present energy produc-
tion and use.

It means that we can venture
off into outer space and take our
own mini-sun along for heat,
light and food production and

enable us to explore the cosmos

ad infinitum.
. Perhaps by the time this

continued on page 29

=

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