Why must the Stargate be made of naquada if the DHD is the power source?

[aAnubiSs]

DHD has a cold fusion reactor(O'Neill's writing in The Fifth Race)

[Seastallion]

Since when?

Basic thing about naquida. I think a more 'scientifis' explanation is that Naquida holds a tremendous amount of potential energy. It can react with many forms of energy, such as an explosion, or electrical energy. The more energy put into it, the more of its potential energy is released. So, put a nuke next to it, get a REALLY big increase, put a firecracker next to it, get a small increase.

There is actually a substance in real life that does that now. I can't remember its name, but essentially, when bombarded with X-rays it causes an avalanche effect in net energy. It is essentially a nuclear process (neither fusion, nor fission), happening at the atomic scale. It is like rolling a snowball down a mountain. It gets bigger and bigger as it rolls down. This material releases far more energy than is put into it, which is then connected to Heat sinks, and a power generator. There has been talk of using it to power Satellites in space, using Solar Cells to power the X-ray machine.

As to the Naquada in the gate... yeah... it can be used as an energy source, but it also is very useful for other things too. Just like oil is great for gasoline, but it is also great for plastics and a ton of other materials we use every day, and don't even realize it. One reason they use naquada is because it has a special property of being able to absorb many different types of energy. We've seen naquada be used in superconducting, as well as a massive capacitor of sorts. It seems to have both properties.

[tauriprivatesoldier]

Doan't naquada absorb neutrinos or something like that? I remembe that in the episode "Crystal Skull". Can neutrinos be used as an energy source

[aAnubiSs]

There is actually a substance in real life that does that now. I can't remember its name, but essentially, when bombarded with X-rays it causes an avalanche effect in net energy. It is essentially a nuclear process (neither fusion, nor fission), happening at the atomic scale. It is like rolling a snowball down a mountain. It gets bigger and bigger as it rolls down. This material releases far more energy than is put into it, which is then connected to Heat sinks, and a power generator. There has been talk of using it to power Satellites in space, using Solar Cells to power the X-ray machine.

As to the Naquada in the gate... yeah... it can be used as an energy source, but it also is very useful for other things too. Just like oil is great for gasoline, but it is also great for plastics and a ton of other materials we use every day, and don't even realize it. One reason they use naquada is because it has a special property of being able to absorb many different types of energy. We've seen naquada be used in superconducting, as well as a massive capacitor of sorts. It seems to have both properties.

IIRC certain isotopes of various elements have the abililty to store high energy electrons which can then be released with a smaller input in energy, so the satellites energy input vs the output on the would be >100%

[Bragi]

The technology of tomorrow... TODAY!

[Count]

Call me crazy, but here's my take on things.

Naquahdah is incredibly stable when it come to storing energy, unless of course it's over-exposed to something, like Anubis weapons. Essentially, the wormholes require incredible amounts of energy to connect and remain stable, and that's just locally.

So the Nahquahdah is probably the only material stable enough to be able to contain the charge required, and not suffer any adverse effects. Even the strongest titanium alloy would collapse under sufficient voltages.

The other alternative is that the Nahquahdah acts like a Solenoid, amplifying the power from the DHD source, enough to establish a wormhole. But that wouldn't pan out with the SGC requiring 20% more energy to establish a wormhole then a standard DHD.