I wrote:
> It is impossible to say how many atoms of deuterium were used to produce > those reactions. > With apologies to Miles and Abd, I take that back. It is not possible to measure the reduced amounts of deuterium, but it is possible to measure an increase in helium. The ratio of helium to heat is about the same as it is for plasma fusion. That is, they find roughly 24 MeV per atom of helium. Most people therefore conclude that 2 deuterium atoms are converting to one helium atom. There is no direct evidence for that. A D+D to helium reaction produces 24 MeV per atom, or 345,000 megajoules per gram of deuterium. There are several grams of deuterium in any cell, so it would take a long time to exhaust the fuel. - Jed
