Fission and fusion are the two directions of use of modern nuclear energy. Under current technical conditions, it is still limited to the use of fission energy, while fusion will probably fly in the sky for another fifty years! Of course, don't imagine that a power plant using nuclear fission could be miniaturized and fit into a cell phone! Of course, this is impossible, but don't think that nuclear energy cannot be integrated into a cell phone, because there is something called a nuclear battery in the world!
1. Nuclear battery
A device that uses the decay energy of radioactive isotopes to produce electricity is called a nuclear battery! Of course, don't think that this type of battery was invented recently. The nuclear battery was first invented by Henry Moseley in 1913. However, it was not untilthe fifth century to improve its effectiveness and achieve its practical application value. of the 20th century, when semiconductors were put into practice, substantial progress was made only ten years later! Nuclear batteries are divided into the following types according to different principles:
Thermal conversion type
Thermionic converter (Thermionic converter)
Thermoelectric generator of radio thermoelectric machine -isotopes)< /p>
Thermophotovoltaic cells
Alkali metal thermal converter to electricity:
Stirling radioisotope generator): uses radioactive isotopes to generate differences temperature to drive the Stirling engine.
Non-thermal conversion type
Ray cells are used to generate electric current from rays. The general source is tritium.
A schematic diagram of the RTG fuel containercarried by travelers, representing spheres of plutonium-238 oxide
Modern nuclear batteries generally use thermonuclear batteries and heat engines to convert nuclear. There are mainly two types of batteries!
The Curiosity rover on Mars, launched on November 26, 2011, uses a nuclear battery and its lifespan can reach 14 years! Of course, this doesn't mean that the battery will be useless after 14 years, but it has weakened to the point that it can no longer support Curiosity's work! Just like the Voyager 1 probe launched in the late 1970s, after 2025 the nuclear battery it carries will no longer be able to support the startup of a single instrument, but it can still provide power, but it will gradually become weaker and unsustainable. !
2. Can nuclear batteries be installed in cell phones?
I haveimpression that the nuclear battery of "The Martian" is quite large, at least around 1M, and its mass reaches tens of kilograms! Matt Damon can also be placed in the rover to stay warm. But in reality, nuclear batteries can be extremely small. For example, the nuclear battery developed by the University of Missouri in the United States is only the size of a penny (slightly larger, 1.95 mm, thickness 1.55 mm)! This level can be put into a small communication device!
Then it can be installed on a mobile phone to provide electricity? In theory, there should be no problem being a beacon transmitter, but if it's going to be used as a power source for modern, power-hungry smartphones, that's obviously not enough! This type of battery is only used for certain special purposes, such as pacemakers and military fields, or in situations whereit is extremely difficult to replace the battery but requires extremely long working hours!
In theory, there are no particularly significant technical obstacles to increasing the power of nuclear batteries, reducing the power consumption of cell phones and designing a mobile phone using a nuclear battery and having a standby time of several decades. However, there are two problems: First:
1. Who dares to use such a mobile phone?
The nuclear battery you carry with you, what should you do if your phone dies or something unexpected happens? Even if it is reinforced, it is difficult to avoid extreme situations such as a fall from height or a car accident!
2. Is the high battery cost worth it?
Although the use of modern nuclear batteries has become relatively commone, we still lack efficient and high-power batteries. For example, the nuclear battery used by Chang'e 4 to save its life on a moonlit night has been received. help from Russia!
So we should consider chemical batteries in the future. For example, lithium batteries have great potential to be explored. However, in daily use, long standby time is not an option. become a problem. The selling point is, after all, that in an age where power supplies are available everywhere, even if there is no power supply, everyone has more than one power bank, and the cost is always very significant!
What is the difference between electric cars and solar cars?
1. A steam engine does not necessarily require steam to operate. Any high pressure gas can be used to operate a vape machineur. Sometimes people use high pressure air to operate small models to test the feasibility of a new design.
2. The greatest advantage of modern steam engines is that they can use almost any fuel to convert thermal energy into mechanical energy. Not picky about its fuel like internal combustion engines. Furthermore, atomic energy could not be used without a steam engine.
Atomic reactors do not directly produce mechanical energy or electrical energy. In reality, atomic reactors only heat water, and the water is converted into useful work by boiling steam in a steam engine. Steam does not necessarily have to be generated by combustion. For example, using a solar collector can also generate steam to run a steam engine.
3. Sometimes people also use two udderssmaller tones with the same surface area as the larger piston to replace the larger piston. Such a motor can operate in four stages and is relatively stable. This type of steam engine is especially important for ships at sea, because its steam can re-enter the boiler to be heated after being continuously decompressed during the working process.
A ship at sea must conserve water because it may not be able to replenish water for a long time, whereas a steam engine on land can continually refill with water. water. Until the Second World War, most merchant ships used this type of steam engine. All battleships before 1905 also used this steam engine. The downside is that it is slightly less efficient.
In a sense, a solar car is also an electric car. The only difference between them is that the batteries usedPowers in general electric vehicles must be charged by the industrial power grid, while solar vehicles have a dedicated solar charging system, including the on-board power grid and photovoltaic components that convert solar energy into electricity. energy. These components are collectively called "solar cells."
Developing this type of solar car with a dedicated solar charging system no longer seems like a fanciful thing, as long as we can develop a method of converting the solar energy. in electrical energy (solar cells) or thermal energy (Stirling engine) - devices can be made. Under such conditions, it will be possible to use the sun's light and thermal energy over half of the earth's space. It is possible to use solar cars in both the Nordic region and the polar regions, not to mention nearby areasfrom the equator.