Launching a rocket to burn coal joke video

Of the three most efficient energy sources at present, the top one only needs 1g to send a rocket to the moon?

I. Nuclear fission

Nuclear fission refers to a form of nuclear reaction in which a heavier nucleus (usually a uranium nucleus or a plutonium nucleus) splits into two or more atoms with lower mass. The energy source of atomic bombs or nuclear power plants is nuclear fission. Among them, uranium fission is the most common in nuclear power plants, and the energy released by plutonium fission is generally used as the energy of space detectors, which is powered by plutonium batteries (nuclear power batteries), such as Voyager 1.

The total fission energy of 1g uranium -235 is equivalent to burning about 2 tons of coal. The mass defect of nuclear fission is about 0. 1% (while the mass defect during the formation of methane molecules is only 0.00003 1%), that is, all the mass lost after fission is converted into energy. According to Einstein's mass-energy equation E = MC 2, the energy released by the lost mass can be calculated.

Two. nuclear fusion

Today, we still haven't found an effective method to realize controlled nuclear fusion (not for hydrogen bombs, but also thermonuclear weapons). Nuclear fusion, also called fusion reaction or thermonuclear reaction. Refers to the atoms with small mass, mainly deuterium. Under ultra-high temperature and high pressure (hundreds of millions of degrees of high temperature), under extremely high temperature and pressure, extra-nuclear electrons will get rid of the bondage of the nucleus, so that the two nuclei can overcome the coulomb force (make the two nuclei close to each other to a strong interaction range) and then collide together to generate heavier nuclei, such as helium. There will be huge energy release in the process of nuclear fusion, and the quality defect of nuclear fusion reaction is about 0.7%.

Scientists are working hard to study controlled nuclear fusion, and nuclear fusion is about to become the energy of the future. The raw materials needed for nuclear fusion in seawater are very rich. There is one deuterium atom in every 600 hydrogen atoms in seawater, and the total amount of deuterium in seawater is about 40 trillion tons. The energy released by the complete fusion of deuterium in each liter of seawater is equivalent to that released by 300 liters of gasoline. According to the energy consumed in the world at present, the fusion energy of deuterium in seawater can be used for tens of billions of years, which can be said to be inexhaustible.

Three. antimatter

To say antimatter, we must first know the concept of antimatter. Dirac predicted the existence of antiparticles for the first time in theory.

1932, carl anderson discovered the existence of positrons;

1955 Chamberlain discovered antiprotons; 1956 Antineutrons were discovered again. Now it is almost certain that every elementary particle has its corresponding antiparticle. The antiparticle corresponding to an electron is a positron, with the same mass as the charged amount, but opposite electrical properties; The antiparticle of a proton is an antiproton. Their mass is the same as the charge, but their electrical properties are opposite. ...

Everything around us is "ordinary matter", that is, positive matter and corresponding antimatter. Positive matter consists of electrons (negatively charged) and positively charged nuclei; Antimatter consists of positrons (positively charged) and negatively charged nuclei (antimatter is magnetically opposite to neutrons and has the same other properties). The reason why the nucleus in antimatter is negatively charged is that the "proton" that makes up the nucleus is an antiproton (also called a negative proton), as opposed to a proton.

Antimatter is the antimatter of normal matter. Theoretically, all substances have corresponding antimatter (scientists can already make antihydrogen). When positive and negative matter meet, the two sides will annihilate each other (that is, the mass of positive and negative matter is all converted into energy). According to the mass-energy equation E = MC 2, the energy released by the annihilation of one gram of antimatter and one gram of positive matter is amazing (about 1.8 10 14 joules, equivalent to 2 1608 tons).

When antimatter is annihilated, the mass energy is converted into 100%, which is the ultimate energy of human beings. However, the cost of making antimatter is very high (it is said that the cost of making one gram of antimatter is about $62.5 trillion), and antimatter is extremely difficult to preserve because it will be swallowed up by the surrounding positive matter. It is impossible to discuss antimatter as an energy source now.

Back to the topic, can the energy released by 1 g antimatter annihilation send a rocket to the moon? Take Saturn V, the rocket with the strongest carrying capacity in the world, as an example.

Saturn V still holds the world record of the rocket with the largest carrying capacity since the first flight of 1967, which is seven times that of Saturn 1B, the second strongest rocket in the United States, and Proton -K, the strongest rocket in the Soviet Union in the same period, and twice that of Falcon, the strongest rocket in the 20th century (from Wikipedia). At the same time, it is also the most self-respecting launch vehicle ever used in human history. The overall height of the rocket is110.6m, the take-off weight is 3038500kg, the total thrust is 3408000kg, the carrying capacity in low-earth orbit is118,000kg, and the carrying capacity in lunar orbit is 45000kg.

So, how much fuel does it take to launch Saturn V lunar exploration rocket? Unfortunately, no specific data was found. But I found the data of the fuel-free mass and the fuel-free mass of each rocket, and the difference between them is the propellant quality. According to the chemical equations and combustion calorific value of different fuel types, the energy released by all rocket fuels can be roughly calculated (the calculation process and method are not necessarily accurate, only for reference).

Saturn V rocket has a three-stage structure.

In the first stage, the fuel-free mass is 1, 3 1 ton, and the fully loaded fuel mass is 2300 tons. The difference is that the propellant mass is 2 1, 69 tons, and the propellant is kerosene/liquid oxygen.

According to the chemical equation of kerosene combustion, the mass of kerosene in the first-stage propellant is about m 1=560 tons, which is not necessarily accurate. )

The second stage has a fuel-free mass of 36 tons and a fully loaded fuel mass of 480 tons, and the propellant mass obtained by the difference is 444 tons, and the propellant is liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen;

(According to the chemical equation of hydrogen combustion, the mass of liquid hydrogen in the second-stage propellant is about m2=49.33 tons, and the calculation based on the theoretical chemical reaction equation of hydrogen and oxygen: 2: 1 is not necessarily accurate. )

In the third stage, there is no fuel mass 10 ton, full fuel mass 128.8 ton, lean propellant mass 1 18.8 ton, and the propellant is liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen;

(Similarly, the mass of liquid hydrogen in the third-stage propellant is about m3= 13.2 tons, which is not necessarily accurate. )

Note: [There is no fixed chemical equation for kerosene, so the general equation is used instead: 2CmHn+[(4m+n)/2]O2=2mCO2+nH2O.

Different types of kerosene have different calorific values. Here we take q1= 4.610.7j/kg (one kilogram of kerosene releases 46 million joules of energy after complete combustion).

For liquid hydrogen, the calorific value of hydrogen is Q2 = 1.42 10 8j/kg, and the chemical equation of hydrogen-oxygen combustion is 2H2+O2=2H2O].

Therefore, the energy released by the combustion of fuel (kerosene) in the first-stage rocket is e1= m1q1= 5601034.6107 = 2.5810/kloc-.

The energy released by fuel (liquid hydrogen) in the second and third stage rocket combustion E23 = (m2+m3) Q2 = (49.33+13.2)1031.42108 = 8.8/kloc-0.

The total energy released by all combustion is e = e1+e23 = 2.581013+8.812 = 3.461013j.

The calculated total energy e released by rocket fuel is brought into the mass-energy equation e = MC 2, where c is the speed of light (c=299792458m/s). Calculate m = e/C2 = 3.461013/(3108) 2 = 0.00038kg. That is, 0.38 grams. Therefore, only 0.19g of antimatter and 0.19g of positive matter can be annihilated, and theoretically Saturn V can be sent to the moon.

If the above calculations are not appropriate, please forgive me and correct me in time. You can leave me a message in the comment area and let's discuss it together.