Back to 32.5 Fusion

Integrated Concepts

Avg difficulty 2.5

(a) Estimate the years that the deuterium fuel in the oceans could supply the energy needs of the world. Assume world energy consumption to be ten times that of the United States which is 8×10198 \times \text{10}^{\text{19}} J/y and that the deuterium in the oceans could be converted to energy with an efficiency of 32%. You must estimate or look up the amount of water in the oceans and take the deuterium content to be 0.015% of natural hydrogen to find the mass of deuterium available. Note that approximate energy yield of deuterium is 3.37×10143 . \text{37} \times \text{10}^{\text{14}} J/kg.

(b) Comment on how much time this is by any human measure. (It is not an unreasonable result, only an impressive one.)

OpenStax College Physics 2e, 32.5 Fusion, exercise 25

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Adapted from College Physics © 2022 Rice University. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Sources: College Physics 2e, College Physics for AP® Courses 2e. Imported at revision f98d7a7.