Subject: RE: baidarka stability
From: Peter A. Chopelas (pac@premier1.net)
Date: Thu Dec 21 2000 - 23:43:35 EST
On Thursday, December 21, 2000 1:34 PM, dldecker@se.mediaone.net
[SMTP:dldecker@se.mediaone.net] wrote:
>
> well what about heavy water they use in nuclear power plants does it
weight
> more??
>
> Dana
>
You are not likely to carry that in a kayak, but just in case someone wants
to one-up the uranium ballast and build a fusion powered kayak, according
to the CRC handbook of chemistry and physics, pure Deuterium (D2O, also
known as heavy water) weighs about 10 percent more than pure water.
If I remember correctly heavy water refers to water that has more Deuterium
atoms in it than normal. Deuterium occurs in water naturally, they just
need to concentrate it to sustain the reaction in a nuclear power plant.
It is a normal water molecule with an extra neutron attached to the
nucleus of the hydrogen atoms. This is way it does not weigh much more
than normal water and I do not think they need pure Deuterium to get the
reactions to start. When the reaction occurs the neutron is thrown off
(the tell tail sign of the reaction is neutrino radiation), gamma rays, and
a whole bunch of heat.
Perhaps a good way to warm your feet and keep the hot chocolate warm, as
well as ballast.
Peter
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