Hey all; so I am confused why the fusion reactors explode when they are hit. I believe in real-life fusion applications, the process creating the energy would cease upon a fusion reactor being destroyed rather than release more energy like a fission reactor may. I know the Universal Century is pretty good about applying science to their fiction, so I was curious if /m/ had an explanation for the "avoid hitting the reactor so it doesn't explode" mentality in UC Gundam series.
>>14304103
1. They only explode if hit with a beam weapon. Otherwise, they just stop working if hit, and any explosion is more of a result of any remaining propellant or ammunition.
2. Supposedly it has something to do with the fact that Minovsky reactors use an I-Field to achieve clean fusion. If hit with a beam weapon, the I-Field is disrupted, which causes a chain reaction and an enormous explosion. That's how it's explained in universe, anyway.
I always thought it was because the reactor contains gas at an extremely high pressure and temperature, of course poking a hole in it lets the explosion out.
>>14304103
It's because UC tech is nonfictional. Some idiot will jump in and say
>but minovsky particles are just inserted into real life physics
and act like it makes sense, but it doesn't.
>>14304139
>nonfictional.
nonsensical
kill me amuro
kill me gundamu
betray me char
What I want to know is how it powers the mobile suit with out several coolant loops. To turn the heat from the reactor into steam. which then spins a generators to make electricity.
the list power outputs of UC fusion reactors is laughable. WW2 radial piston engines produce more power.
>>14304114
This anon has it right. The I-Field contains the reactor and its processes, but if it's breached then the whole thing blows up.
If I recall correctly the key element is the ability of the I-Field to disrupt electromagnetic radiation, in particular infrared. The I-Field is at the same time part of the cooling system, so when it's dissipated momentarily by a beam the temperature inside the microreactor spikes.
>>14304903
That makes no sense. It's a fusion reaction engine. The I-Field supposedly acts similar to a plasma field, keep the reaction stable. Therefore if the I-Field is disrupted, then the fusion reaction would instantly cease. It would not explode.
>>14304914
From how I understand it we are not talking about a reactor breach, but a one in a million (un)lucky shot that causes a catastrophic malfunction. So perhaps it's not a beam piercing the reactor, but grazing it enough to weaken the field but not make it disappear completely?
I know thet reactors in battletech only explode in the rare event when air makes contact with the hot plasma, and even that is only an oxygen flash fire that destroys the reactor but doesn't cause a massive explosion.
>>14305030
>but a one in a million (un)lucky shot that causes a catastrophic malfunction.
Except this explosion happens quite frequently.
>So perhaps it's not a beam piercing the reactor, but grazing it enough to weaken the field but not make it disappear completely?
That doesn't make sense. The reaction would still instantly dissipate.
>>14305103
>>14304914
Even if the fusion reactions stops you're still left with a volume of extremely hot and high pressure gas, once the I-field is breached by a beam weapon that gas escapes and creates a massive explosion.
>>14305178
Gas? From what? The fusion reaction? Once the fusion reaction is destabilized, it collapses without an explosion.
>>14305199
It's not the reaction, it's the superheated helium waste and the hydrogen fuel in the reactor at the time. You get a similar effect to a fusion torch engine, but not directed.
>>14305178
Are you serious? There's an I-field there, there aren't any gases left. During the field stabilization processes the super heated gases merge with floating tachyon particles, which trigger and are sent to an alternate dimension with a micro Schwarzschild wormhole.
ITT I can't tell if people are being ironic or autistic
>>14305419
I'm sure there's at least one retard here who believes this shit
what about the tons of rocket fuel stored in a mobile suit, don't they cause most of the explosions?
>>14306516
Yeah of course but I am talking about when they are like "DON'T HIT THE REACTOR OR YOU WILL CAUSE A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION" shit in 08th MS and the ReZEL exploding in UC OVA 1 after the reactor gets hit with funnel beams from NZ-666. Obviously 90% of the explosions are just from propellant, etc, but specifically the M.Uc.F.R is specifically called out in UC as capable of causing very large, dangerous explosions
>>14304903
I encountered this explanation as well. It said that the moment the I-Field is gone the temperature rise is so drastic it's enough to turn the entire MS into super heated gasses.
End of the day, mechs doing big boom is just fun to watch. As >>14305030 said BT had it's own share of "stackpoling" when narrative overrides the tech.
>>14304103
because nukes.
nukes are dangerous.
>>14304103
in order to fuse efficiently without the unbelievably high pressures of a stellar core, which we simply can't generate, the core particle stream has to be heated to an unthinkably high temperature instead. Which is difficult, but we can do it. It needs to be about 100 million degrees kelvin.
clearly it's on purpose, to make you not want to get hit even more
![maxresdefault[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/hBfd1Ab.jpg "maxresdefault[1].jpg")
>>14305030
>I know thet reactors in battletech only explode in the rare event when air makes contact with the hot plasma, and even that is only an oxygen flash fire that destroys the reactor but doesn't cause a massive explosion.
Except in the video game cutscenes.
"HE'S GOING CRITICAL!"
>>14304103
If this was taken to real life, there's no way a fusion reactor would cause a fusion explosion. Yes, the plasma is incredibly hot and under intense pressure, but there's so little of it. Just having it touch the sides of the fusion chamber would stop the reaction because it would cool down so much.
If we allow for some minor suspension of disbelief, we can make the following two assumptions:
1. UC fusion reactors have much more fuel in them, giving them a greater heat capacity.
2. The temperature of the plasma in a beam weapon is at or near that of its reactor.
With those assumptions, most cases will still not cause a fusion explosion. You can get spectacular explosions from oxygen flash fires and from the plasma breaching and igniting the propellant and oxidizer tanks. However, you can get an unlucky sequence of events where the additional hydrogen plasma in the reactor makes the reaction go even faster, causing it to get hotter, which increases the pressure and increases the reaction. This causes a runaway fusion reaction which causes a massive explosion.
Alternatively, you can assume that UC fusion reactors are run really close to conditions that will cause a runaway fusion reaction. Damage to the reactor has a chance of causing it to fail-deadly. This would be a stupid design choice, but UC doesn't seem to suffer from a surplus of wise people.
In cartoons, robots explode when they are killed.
Nuclear is bad, m'kay?
>>14304880
http://www.ultimatemark.com/gundam/power.html
Mostly they just sap energy from the spinning plasma, but apparently they also pipe a shitton of heat into the Gundam's calves? Which is why it has knee vents and fat calves and the GM doesn't and can't use beam weapons.
Also, apparently the kilowatt ratings for MS are for the electricity they produce. The original power from the reactor and the power bled off for thrust aren't rated.
>>14307768
Mark has a lot of theories but I've never seen them confirmed. Until Bandai/Sunrise/Tomino says otherwise, the Kw are just a mistake. Because Japs can't into numbers.
Robots explode because easier to animate
In higher budget series like Unicorn they don't just explode.
The more you know.
>>14307772
There's sources right there on the page though, ranging from Entertainment Bibles through MG manuals to the Gundam museum. They're probably as good as you're going to get for any of this stuff since they're never going to make a public press release about power generation.
>>14304103
Because Its a cartoon.
