Editing 2115: Plutonium
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This comic pokes fun at the properties of {{w|plutonium}}, claiming that it is so unrealistically powerful that it may as well be random science fiction jargon. Indeed, the ability for a metal to radiate energy sounds impossible (this comic leaves out the inherent dangers of highly radioactive material). This is reflected by Megan and Hairy treating Cueball's idea as a joke. | This comic pokes fun at the properties of {{w|plutonium}}, claiming that it is so unrealistically powerful that it may as well be random science fiction jargon. Indeed, the ability for a metal to radiate energy sounds impossible (this comic leaves out the inherent dangers of highly radioactive material). This is reflected by Megan and Hairy treating Cueball's idea as a joke. | ||
| โ | There are devices that need substantial electrical power over long time – | + | There are devices that need substantial electrical power over long time – in the order of decades – but local sources of energy are insufficient or unavailable, yet constructing a power line or resupplying them with some power source (like fuel, fresh chemical batteries etc.) is either impossible or overly costly. Such devices include maritime beacons and buoys, automatic weather and science stations located in remote areas, and – most importantly – deep space probes and some planetary probes or science packs. Probes sent beyond Jupiter cannot effectively rely on photovoltaic panels for energy, because the great distance to the Sun means that the amount of solar radiation per unit of area is very low, requiring impractically large (and thus heavy) panels to provide enough energy. Carrying a lot of fuel adds mass to the probe, making them more expensive to launch. |
Instead, such devices usually use {{W|radioisotope thermoelectric generator}}s (RTGs). In an RTG the natural radioactive decay of some unstable isotope (such as {{w|plutonium-238}} or {{w|strontium-90}}) produces a lot of heat, which is then used to generate energy using {{W|thermopile}}s, which generate electricity directly from temperature differences using the {{W|thermoelectric effect}}. The key element of an RTG, a pellet of radioactive material such as plutonium dioxide, could be facetiously described as a "power orb" – a lump of a substance that gives out heat apparently out of nothing. For example, the Voyager probes used three RTGs, each containing 4.5kg of plutonium-238, each producing at its peak 2400W of heat energy, converted to 160W of electrical energy. | Instead, such devices usually use {{W|radioisotope thermoelectric generator}}s (RTGs). In an RTG the natural radioactive decay of some unstable isotope (such as {{w|plutonium-238}} or {{w|strontium-90}}) produces a lot of heat, which is then used to generate energy using {{W|thermopile}}s, which generate electricity directly from temperature differences using the {{W|thermoelectric effect}}. The key element of an RTG, a pellet of radioactive material such as plutonium dioxide, could be facetiously described as a "power orb" – a lump of a substance that gives out heat apparently out of nothing. For example, the Voyager probes used three RTGs, each containing 4.5kg of plutonium-238, each producing at its peak 2400W of heat energy, converted to 160W of electrical energy. | ||
