Posted on 08/13/2022 12:57:56 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL's) National Ignition Facility (NIF) recorded the first case of ignition on August 8, 2021, the results of which have now been published in three peer-reviewed papers.
Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the Sun and other stars: heavy hydrogen atoms collide with enough force that they fuse together to form a helium atom, releasing large amounts of energy as a by-product. Once the hydrogen plasma "ignites", the fusion reaction becomes self-sustaining, with the fusions themselves producing enough power to maintain the temperature without external heating.
Ignition during a fusion reaction essentially means that the reaction itself produced enough energy to be self-sustaining, which would be necessary in the use of fusion to generate electricity.
In this latest milestone at the LLNL, researchers recorded an energy yield of more than 1.3 megajoules (MJ) during only a few nanoseconds.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Great. A whole new way for the idiots to start wildfires.
Mark. For a nanofoot.
Ten nanoseconds = one shake. (from the world of nuclear physics)
Well, I know that's bogus* because "Ivy Mike" (November first, 1952) most assuredly was a "case of [fusion] ignition."
* ... because the word "controlled" appears nowhere in the article.
Nanosecond: The time it takes for light to travel one foot.
My nuclear physics professors told me that fusion reactors will not be the hollowed solution people want it to be. It will make a large number of unwanted byproducts. Also, since high gravity isn’t present, it will be very difficult to hold the fusion mass in place for the process. Keep in mind that these fusion experiments do not involve much mass and that it takes a rather large laser to perform the ignition. It won’t be feasible to scale this up.
Think about them making a black hole.
I want my fusion Micropile that Asimov promised 70 some years ago.
Actually, all of the fuel they could squeeze into the magnetic containment was already in place. There wasn't much of it. It takes either a great deal of gravity or a truly healthy magnetic field to do this. We don't manipulate gravity. It will take a big mass to make this hold together on its own, like for example, our sun. The energy required for the magnetic pinch plus the energy needed by the ignition laser was a great deal more than that two nano-second fusion produced.
That is the amount of time it takes light to travel about ten inches.
“It won’t be feasible to scale this up.”
That certainly seems to be the case for the last 50 years.
Even the Rooskies haven’t gotten close.
Still a fun idea though....
Fusion created all of the heavier elements. The sun starts with hydrogen and then makes everything else. Well, our sun isn't massive enough to make the heavier elements any longer. It is getting tired.
OOopsie....
DOE’s bad.
My gut feeling is that magnetic containment will never work. The fusion reaction opposes that containment. I think fusion needs a deep gravity well because the reaction has no properties which oppose gravity.
Well then, gravity amplifiers are in order to be developed.
What to you think about forming a company together and obtaining a few federal grants?
Ca$h is King.
I’m in.
Inventing and developing Gravity Op Amps would be a good first focus.
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