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Weather Channel founder wants to sue Al Gore

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Vendetagainst:

--- Quote from: Nodaisho on 15 Sep 2008, 22:24 ---Deuterium and Tritium are isotopes of hydrogen
--- End quote ---
yes

--- Quote ---that are currently expected to be used for fusion power
--- End quote ---
well they already are used in fusion, just not extensively.


--- Quote ---I was thinking that as you create hydrogen, if you run it through something afterwards to separate the different isotopes of hydrogen

--- End quote ---
I'd like to clarify that by "create" you mean "liberate through the combustion of fuel". I know it's pedantic, but conservation of energy and all.

This is where your statement stops making sense though:

--- Quote ---you could sift out the deuterium and tritium and save that for use in the power plant, using the other hydrogen for the fuel cell
--- End quote ---
There are several things wrong with this.
1)Isolating isotopes is expensive and difficult, and in tritium's case impossible (see 2)
2)Though Deuterium is fairly numerous, Tritium has a half life of only twelve years and is found only minutely in nature
   2a)Tritium is produced through the bombardment of nitrogen with neutrons.
3)I cannot tell whether you are suggesting the power plant be a part of the automobile
   3a)If you are, it should be noted that nuclear power plants are outrageously complicated and expensive, and this could absolutely never work
   3b)If you are not, are you suggesting that people should handle radioactive materials on a daily basis?
      -Note that tritium has a low decay energy and can only release beta radiation and is thus relatively safe. Note also that most people should still not handle it because they are incompetent.

If this sounded aggressive I apologize, I have a way of sounding rude when I don't intend to be.

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