A Step Toward Fusion Energy

[DobDobDob]

A new project has come one step closer to making fusion energy possible. Plasma is very hot, ionized gas that can conduct electricity - essentially, it's what stars are made of. If heated to the point of ignition, hydrogen ions could fuse into helium, the same reaction that powers the sun. This fusion could be a clean, sustainable and limitless energy source. ... > full story (http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1031639644&msgid=30440693&act=WXFG&c=67953&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scienc edaily.com%2Freleases%2F2007%2F03%2 F070310145550.htm)

[xelasnave]

OK I will go into a battle of wits completely unarmed but I ask how much energy will be required to contain a process that happens at the centre of a star? From article there is a reference to this aspect. Quote:
"The slower energy comes out, the less power you have to put in, and the more economical the reactor is," says Canik.

Alex

[DobDobDob]

Well Alex, in my simplest and most eloquent prose, I will clearly and unambiguously state...a lot :whistle:

[xelasnave]

Geeeezzz only that much:eyepop: . I was thinking it may be... a real lot:D not to worry I am working on a better containment system in an effort to help:D .
alex:) :) :)

[DobDobDob]

Very ambitious Alex, building a barrier that will contain the sun, this puts the term supernovae into a new context, just put one in a box and get it to run your light bulbs :whistle:

[Omaroo]

My older brother's best friend, Dr Peter Krug, is a Tokamak scientist whose expertise is in plasma (read: laser) physics. He has been involved in the Tokamak projects for decades and has designed various laser systems that start and maintain the reaction. He says that this is all still an awful long way off....... so these stellarators look interesting.



Well - that's the important part! :thumbsup:

[okiscopey]

"The machines look cool"

They certainly do, have a look at the z-machine on good-old APOD:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060313.html

… the Z Machine running at Sandia National Laboratories created a plasma … in excess of two billion Kelvin, making it arguably the hottest human made thing ever in the history of the Earth and, for a brief time, hotter than the interiors of stars. The Z Machine experiment … purposely creates high temperatures by focusing 20 million amps of electricity into a small region further confined by a magnetic field … the Z machine released about 80 times the world's entire electrical power usage for a brief fraction of a second.

[DobDobDob]

WOW :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: when you put it that way, WOW, simply unbelievable.

[Gerald Sargent]

Reminds me of the story about the chap that invented
the perfect solvent - then spent the rest of his life looking
for something to put it in.

[okiscopey]

Yes, and did you know after he died, his son invented the container!

:lol:

By the way, the fusion and solvent business reminds me of the early description of the laser .. "a solution looking for a problem". Now look at them, they're everywhere.