Re: [sl4] giant planets ignation - one more existential risk

From: John K Clark (johnkclark@fastmail.fm)
Date: Sat Dec 13 2008 - 11:01:37 MST


Alexei Turchin <alexeiturchin@gmail.com> wrote:

> Plutonium 238 which under some assumptions
> could lead to a chain reaction and a nuclear explosion.

What assumptions? Plutonium 238 doesn’t even produce neutrons, it
produced Alpha Particles (Helium), how on earth (or Saturn) are you
going to make a chain reaction from Alpha Particles?! Plutonium 239 can
make a bomb but not 238, and nobody puts Plutonium 239 in space probes.
And if all you needed to do to get a fusion reaction going is get a
bunch of Deuterium together we would have had practical fusion reactors
a long time ago.

And you say that in the center of a gas giant planet matter is in a
degenerate state just like it is in a White Dwarf star; and that is also
Bullshit. Compared to a White Dwarf the center of Jupiter is a pretty
good vacuum and it’s cold as hell too.

You’re right that people think the idea is ridiculous, and there is a
reason for that.

 John K Clark
 

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  John K Clark
  johnkclark@fastmail.fm
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