A Thought Experiment with Tritium
Fusion Science and Technology / Volume 28 / Number 3P2 / October 1995 / Pages 1120-1126
Tritium Properties and Interaction with Material / Proceedings of the Fifth Topical Meeting on Tritium Technology In Fission, Fusion, and Isotopic Applications Belgirate, Italy May 28-June 3, 1995 / dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A30557
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An experiment is proposed in which a minimum of thirty (30) grams of tritium is packaged as lithium tritide in a steel container weighing several kilograms. After decontamination of the outside surface, calorimetry measurements would be made, and the unit would be weighed very accurately. After several decades, the calorimeter and weight measurements would be repeated. If the weight measurements could be made with the required accuracy, it would be possible to correlate the observed change in mass with the total energy emitted (calculated from the mean energy measured by calorimetry) over the time interval. If successful, this experiment would, in the opinion of the authors, be the first laboratory experiment to directly verify the equivalency of mass and energy.
