According to Doc Brown, 1.21 GW of electrical energy is required to activate the

Question

According to Doc Brown, 1.21 GW of electrical energy is required to activate the "flux capacitor" for the DeLorean. Using the energy output of one reaction between two carbon nuclei that you calculated above, determine the number of reactions per second that are required. Assume that the source of the 1.21 GW shifts to the lightning bolt that hit the Hill Valley clock tower in 1955. A typical lightning bolt might be about 30 kA of electrical current. Calculate the minimum voltage needed so that a bolt with this current could provide the necessary power.

Explanation / Answer

a) If the energy output frm the reaction between two carbon nuclei is 4.617MeV (or plug the number you fond in the question above), that is equal to 4.617MeV X 1.60xe-13 J/1MeV=7.38e-13 J or 7.38e-22 GJ

We need 1.21 GJ per second, so the number of reactions needed is n*7.38e-22=1.21 n=1.64e21 reactions per second

b) Power = Current X Voltage so Voltage = Power/Current = 1.21e9 W / 30e3 A =40.3 kV

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