Word: lithium
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Meshchiryakov reported controlled fusion experiments) and the British, as well as the U.S.. are reported to be working hard on this radical device, but the only fusion reaction demonstrated so far is an uncontrolled one: the hydrogen bomb. In the bomb, light elements (isotopes of hydrogen and probably lithium) are caused to join into helium by the intense heat of an exploding fission (uranium) bomb. Something more tractable is needed to start a fusion reaction in a peaceful power plant...
...known material can stand such heat, but if the material struck by the electrons is lithium-six deuteride,* it will (so say the rumors) turn into helium, giving off a vast amount of energy...
...first full-scale (60,000 kw.) atomic-power plant at Shippingport, Pa., though AEC knew the plant would be obsolete by the time it was finished, in 1957. And on Wall Street, the uranium bulls were already hedging their bets with such stocks as Foote Minerals (up 170%) and Lithium Corp. (up 400%) on the chance that lithium, not uranium, might prove to be the basic atomic fuel of the future...
...bomb. There is a good chance that each old-style fission bomb, or perhaps a fraction of each, can be upgraded to an H-bomb, 1,000 times as powerful. The fission bomb will act as a detonator, starting the explosion of "fusion" ingredients such as heavy hydrogen and lithium. The end product of the fusion reaction is likely to be rich in free neutrons, which can enter almost any material, make it radioactive and create vast amounts of radioactivity...
...test their models against the few facts they do possess. One set of facts they are reasonably sure of: the universe "is made of a fairly uniform mixture of chemical elements; 95% is hydrogen, nearly 5% is helium formed in stars. The small remainder is the heavier elements from lithium to uranium. The elements get scarcer as they get heavier until they reach the atomic weight of 100; after that, their abundance is about the same...