1. The fundamental problem in harnessing nuclear fusion is getting the two particles (say, two deuterons)...

Transcribed Image Text:

1. The fundamental problem in harnessing nuclear fusion is getting the two particles (say, two deuterons) close enough together for the attractive (but short-range) nuclear force to overcome the Coulomb repulsion. The "brute force" method is to heat the particles to fantastic temperatures and allow the random collisions to bring them together. A more exotic proposal is muon catalysis, in which we construct a "hydrogen molecule ion. H₂", only with deuterons in place of protons and a muon in place of the electron. Use your knowledge of the H₂ ion to predict the equilibrium separation distance between the deuterons in the muonic molecule, and explain why muons are superior to electrons for this purpose. [10 pts] 1. The fundamental problem in harnessing nuclear fusion is getting the two particles (say, two deuterons) close enough together for the attractive (but short-range) nuclear force to overcome the Coulomb repulsion. The "brute force" method is to heat the particles to fantastic temperatures and allow the random collisions to bring them together. A more exotic proposal is muon catalysis, in which we construct a "hydrogen molecule ion. H₂", only with deuterons in place of protons and a muon in place of the electron. Use your knowledge of the H₂ ion to predict the equilibrium separation distance between the deuterons in the muonic molecule, and explain why muons are superior to electrons for this purpose. [10 pts]