Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - [Ultra-Tech] HEDM batteries and explosives

AlexanderHowl · 02-19-2019, 07:08 PM

HEDM materials like metallic hydrogen have around 216 MJ of energy per kilogram (around 50x as much as TNT). They are so energetic that researchers are worried that they could be used as alternatives to nuclear weapons for triggerind fusion weapons (one metric ton of metallic hydrogen could trigger a one megaton fusion detonation). They are also highly unstable, so they will likely have a stabilizing agent added (one-sixth of the mass) to keep them from becoming an unintended explosion (reducing their energy density to 180 MJ/kg).

As for batteries, I think that they would make very intensive nonreusable power cells. I would say that they would have ten times the endurance of reusable power cells, though they would also detonate with a force equal to 20x their mass in TNT if hit by an attack that pierced their housing. They would likely also need to vent the hydrogen produced as the metallic hydrogen releases energy by becoming gaseous hydrogen.

02-19-2019, 07:08 PM	#4
AlexanderHowl Join Date: Feb 2016	Re: [Ultra-Tech] HEDM batteries and explosives HEDM materials like metallic hydrogen have around 216 MJ of energy per kilogram (around 50x as much as TNT). They are so energetic that researchers are worried that they could be used as alternatives to nuclear weapons for triggerind fusion weapons (one metric ton of metallic hydrogen could trigger a one megaton fusion detonation). They are also highly unstable, so they will likely have a stabilizing agent added (one-sixth of the mass) to keep them from becoming an unintended explosion (reducing their energy density to 180 MJ/kg). As for batteries, I think that they would make very intensive nonreusable power cells. I would say that they would have ten times the endurance of reusable power cells, though they would also detonate with a force equal to 20x their mass in TNT if hit by an attack that pierced their housing. They would likely also need to vent the hydrogen produced as the metallic hydrogen releases energy by becoming gaseous hydrogen.