CSvax:Physics:piner (11/10/82)
It has been suggested that stimulated proton decay would be a great source of energy to drive a starship, or anything else for that matter. I have heard this before and as before I must point out some very real problems with such a scheme. While decay of a proton will produce a lot of energy, that energy may not be very useful. They energy will be in the form of hard X-rays. It must be converted from that form into something more usefull, such as electricity. The conversion efficiency may be so low, that it would not be competitive with a more direct approach such as a fusion reactor which discharges the energetic particles in one direction. In short, all forms of enrgy are not equally useful. The principles of thermodynamics apply even to proton decay. So proton decay may not be as useful as you think. As a historical precident of unwarrented optimism, note the state of the nuclear fission effort. Richard Piner