# Fusion powered cremation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2006, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fusion-powered-cremation/380661 "2006-11-16T12:44:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![motomoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@motomoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motomoon)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fusion-powered-cremation/380661/1 "2006-11-16T12:44:15Z")
As a night baker I have a lot of time during the night and sometimes I actually remember to ask the dope… Earlier in the night I had heard a BBC report on burial practices around the world, and the subject of cremation came up. As would be expected cremation has its environmental downsides and the world doesn’t need more stuff polluting the air. Getting to my question: Say fusion power(the high temperature type) was practical and common. I happen to be a wealthy fusion power magnate and can modify one of my manymy [tokamak](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak) as I see fit. Unfortunately, I’m dead. In my will I’ve elected to have my body consumed by 100 million degrees Celsius plasma. Supposing that the plasma could be shunted somehow, what would my body be reduced to, would anything be left? Would my corpse be able to contribute to the power output in some tiny way? ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fusion-powered-cremation/380661/2 "2006-11-16T17:41:53Z")
I can’t help you with your questions, but would like to add, this would be a HELL of a way to be disposed of. Sign me up! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fusion-powered-cremation/380661/3 "2006-11-16T18:00:18Z")
The mass of the plasma would be fairly small compared to your body mass. You, the cold dead stiff, will quickly quench the plasma’s temp. It’s not really much different than what would happen if the reactor lost magnetic confinement. The plasma quickly cools down below fusion temperatures when it comes into contact with the reactor walls. It’d be cheaper to use a fancy incinerator. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fusion-powered-cremation/380661/4 "2006-11-16T18:26:20Z")
Use your reactor to power an [ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_arc_furnace#Construction). Make friends with the giant graphite electrode. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fusion-powered-cremation/380661/5 "2006-11-16T18:29:48Z")
Even as a thought experiment it’s hard to visualize this. But a temperature of multi-million degrees would strip the body down to its component atoms, and then strip the electrons off the nuclei, this being the definition of a plasma. There’s not enough concentrated deuterium or tritium in the body to make any appreciable difference to the heating. I can’t understand why you’d want to go the Tokamak route, though. Obviously [laser fusion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_fusion) is what you’d want. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AKramme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@AKramme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AKramme)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fusion-powered-cremation/380661/6 "2012-02-26T17:25:01Z")
You’d be reduced to a little, black rock (similar to obsidian and about a size that would fit in your palm). Your output would be minimal, because chambers like this are designed to burn up trash and other junk, not collect energy. Saw it on a show back in, like, 2009. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fusion-powered-cremation/380661/7 "2012-02-26T23:03:26Z")
> [@motomoon](#): > > As would be expected cremation has its environmental downsides and the world doesn’t need more stuff polluting the air. Even less do we want more stuff polluting the groundwater. We have a lot more air on earth then drinkable water. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fusion-powered-cremation/380661/8 "2012-02-26T23:27:12Z")
Personally, I’d like to have my body charred to carbon then made into gasoline. The nitrogen can be made into ammonia by the Haber Bosch process. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fusion-powered-cremation/380661/9 "2012-02-27T00:08:32Z")
Fusion powered cremation = H-bombs Do a whole bunch of people(or zombies) at once