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Could a particle beam be used to transfer fuel in space? Solar or nuclear powered.
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In any useful quantity? No. In fact, the path of charged particles will be bent and diffused by magnetic fields, which basicly makes them worthless. The military couldn't even figure out how to direct them a few hundred miles for the Star Wars program without going through the trouble of making a neuteralizing system.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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A few hundred miles could place them in a fuel depot in orbit around Earth!
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No, no it couldn't. There would be no way to capture the neutralized beam on the other end.
In fact, the neutral particle beam was looked at by the USAF because there is no way to deflect it, and it would penitrate deeply into solid metal (armor, for example) and destroy it from the inside by thermal effects.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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What if it hit water or ice?
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The beam would probobly boil away the water and destroy whatever was holding it too. A neuteral particle beam is useless for anything except as a weapon.
Even if it didn't, the amount of hydrogen atoms you can move this way is useless, you need to be able to move like 100's of kilos a day, and this is clearly impractical for a particle accelerator.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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Not impracticle for this one it can do the job easy.Perhaps, in a few hours.
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Um. Errorist, that is a laser, not a neuteral particle beam.
There really is no point in continuing the conversation if you won't read your own links.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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In fact, the neutral particle beam was looked at by the USAF because there is no way to deflect it, and it would penitrate deeply into solid metal (armor, for example) and destroy it from the inside by thermal effects.
Didn’t we discuss something like this before. If a neutral beam of ions hits a strong enough magnetic field perpendicular to the velocity of the beam the positive ions will be deflected one way and the negative ones will be deflect another way. The resulting change in velocity will produce a reaction force on the space craft.
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Ummm you are thinking of a plasma beam John, where the constituent particles are traveling together but are not bound together, so a magnetic or electrical field can be used to bend their path.
A neuteral particle beam is different, it fires a beam of neuteral atoms where the electrons and nucleii are joined together like they are in gasses, only traveling at extreme velocities. The military dabbled with such a technology specifically because it would NOT be deflected by a magnetic field, like the huge one around Earth, so the beam would travel straight.
There isn't any practical way to use this for propulsion because of how deeply it will penitrate into your rocket, it would blast right through the engine and destroy the vehicle... it makes a dandy weapon, but a lousy engine.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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Ummm you are thinking of a plasma beam John, where the constituent particles are traveling together but are not bound together, so a magnetic or electrical field can be used to bend their path.
A neuteral particle beam is different, it fires a beam of neuteral atoms where the electrons and nucleii are joined together like they are in gasses, only traveling at extreme velocities. The military dabbled with such a technology specifically because it would NOT be deflected by a magnetic field, like the huge one around Earth, so the beam would travel straight.
There isn't any practical way to use this for propulsion because of how deeply it will penitrate into your rocket, it would blast right through the engine and destroy the vehicle... it makes a dandy weapon, but a lousy engine.
Well then you have to ionize the particles first. I am not saying this will not be an energy intensive process that will require alot of space. Anyway you did say:
No. In fact, the path of charged particles will be bent and diffused by magnetic fields
So I think it was a reasonable assumption to assume the particles were charged (A.K.A ionized).
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I don't think there is any practical way to do that, the beam is traveling so fast that the ionization system would have to be horribly powerful to break down the beam before it blasts a hole in the back of your collector.
I've watched a film clip of what happens when a block of aluminum gets hit by a beam like this... it just melts all the way through along its length almost immediatly.
"...trouble of making a neuteralizing system"
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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If the particles hit Ice attached to the ship it would work.
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No it wouldn't. This neuteral particle beam has massive penitration power, it would go right through the ice and destroy the ship.
That bar of aluminum they blasted, which is excelent at stopping particle radiation, the hole melted and vaporized along its length pretty equally, as the beam penitrated it with ease and destroyed it from inside.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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The ice would turn to steam and add to the reaction force.
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And that steam jet would have an extremely low specific impulse, just like most low-temperature thermal engines.
Plus the beam will punch through the ice pretty easily, and destroy the vehicle under it too, don't forget.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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Hmmmm....http://www.androidpubs.com/prod04.htm]I think this is what you are looking for errorist but I am kind of skeptical.
http://www.androidpubs.com/prod04.htm]Apparently NASA thought it was interesting unless he was lying.
Dig into the [url=http://child-civilization.blogspot.com/2006/12/political-grab-bag.html]political grab bag[/url] at [url=http://child-civilization.blogspot.com/]Child Civilization[/url]
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