Thread: Would it be Possible to Make Deuterium Oxide Ice?

Ultra-dense Deuterium May Be Nuclear Fuel Of The Future


There are quite a few articles about this "highly condensed deuterium" to be found in cyberspace. I'm not certain I've fully digested the process for making miniscule amounts of the stuff, but it renders the question in my mind, "Could we produce D2O ice?" We have seen that supercooled water undergoes a series of expansion and contraction phases at various temperatures, but what about supercooled and compressed D20? It would seem this might be a better approach to a fuel if somehow the resulting substance could be locked in both physical and thermodynamic equilibrium. The quantum oscillations produced would certainly be capable of generating electrical power. Suppose we layered it between conductors like a capacitor or even a Russian Doll?

Any thoughts?

From the article:

The laser technology has long been tested on frozen deuterium, known as “deuterium ice”, but results have been poor. It has proved to be very difficult to compress the deuterium ice sufficiently for it to attain the high temperature required to ignite the fusion.

Yes. That is the article.

Do you believe by deuterium ice they were meaning deuterium oxide ice? I suppose what I'm imagining is a tunneling, diamond anvil as an alternative to the laser, only not with the idea of fusing but to create a superconducter, effectively sintered by supercooling as opposed to a kiln. It would seem that if we could stabilize the deuterium with Na in a supercooled state, they would oppose one another with endothermal and exothermal characteristics and oscillate against a container of some higher mass metal. In the process of making the stuff, we would be supplying the equivalent energy of sintering through the compression bby the anvil, The B part of the mold would be supercooled, as in A is a lower anvil, B is the center, or core, and C is an upper anvil.

Once again, this is a question for technical opinion. Is any of that sounding do-able?

Originally Posted by HectorDecimal

Yes. That is the article.

Do you believe by deuterium ice they were meaning deuterium oxide ice?

No. Deuterium oxide is more commonly known as heavy water. If this is what they meant, they would have referred to it as "heavy water ice".

Originally Posted by Janus

Originally Posted by HectorDecimal

Yes. That is the article.

Do you believe by deuterium ice they were meaning deuterium oxide ice?

No. Deuterium oxide is more commonly known as heavy water. If this is what they meant, they would have referred to it as "heavy water ice".

And should be the obvious reason for the question to begin with. This is a source of confusion ion some circles. When deuterium ice is mentioned, it would have to be deuterium laden ice to be ice at all. It seems the article is using ice as a misnomer. I was wanting to see if others interpretted it this way or not.

It will be interesting to see how many agree.

Originally Posted by HectorDecimal

When deuterium ice is mentioned, it would have to be deuterium laden ice to be ice at all. It seems the article is using ice as a misnomer.

The solid form of many volatiles, including Hydrogen(of which deuterium is an isotope), are also called an "ice". Frozen Carbon Dioxide or "dry ice" is a common example. The use of the word ice is not a misnomer.

Originally Posted by Janus

Originally Posted by HectorDecimal

When deuterium ice is mentioned, it would have to be deuterium laden ice to be ice at all. It seems the article is using ice as a misnomer.

The solid form of many volatiles, including Hydrogen(of which deuterium is an isotope), are also called an "ice". Frozen Carbon Dioxide or "dry ice" is a common example. The use of the word ice is not a misnomer.

You're right. I didn't think of that.

This link might be cool, pardon the pun:
Solid Hydrogen Ice May Explain Interstellar Glow, Say Chemists - Technology Review

Originally Posted by Arthur Angler

This link might be cool, pardon the pun:
Solid Hydrogen Ice May Explain Interstellar Glow, Say Chemists - Technology Review

Thank you!

Yes. It IS cool. No pun intended!

It's amazing how one search brings up certain things while someone else can change things just a bit and Voila!