Posted on 12/17/2022 5:19:13 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Except in China, unfortunately.
Perspective...
:)
I’m very glad we don’t have flying cars.
And what you get is an electric golf cart to drive and Astro to sleep with.
If we were even remotely concerned about clean energy, we'd be dumping money into thorium reactors.
All I see in my mind when I read, “Philosopher’s Stone” is Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Excellent Anime with a compelling story that contains relieving humor but isn’t childish - I highly recommend it. It more closely follows the original manga (comic) than the first iteration of the series, which was being released while the manga was being written. When the series overtook the manga, instead of filler episodes or long breaks, they wrote their own ending. I prefer Brotherhood.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullmetal_Alchemist:_Brotherhood (contains spoilers).
Although I have been casually reading about man made fusion for decades, it was just a few days ago that I understood for the first time that the mass and gravity of the sun are essential factors in solar fusion.
I always assumed that man made fusion reactors were identical to a tiny little speck of the sun's core.
Instead, 250 million F required for fusion on Earth versus just 25 million F inside the sun is completely astounding.
I have been an avid and life long supporter of tax payer funded basic research and experimental physics, but the money the USA has shoveled into fusion research for 70 years is really beginning to look like criminal waste.
Basic research in fission reactors is almost as bad.
My step brother was an engineering executive for about ten years for a miniature fission reactor start up (pebble bed, I think). 80% of his budget came from government agencies, and the company is still in the start up phase.
Look on the brightside. 40 years ago we only had ten years left until certain doom.
I may be cynical, but the big hoopla surrounding this “ breakthrough” has the all hallmarks of a political stunt. Practical fusion power is at least decades away from ever being practical. These positive energy results are only on a laboratory scale and might never be reproduced on the industrial scale needed to provide enough power to run even a fraction of our economy. It is interesting to note that no similar “breakthroughs” are being breathlessly announced for new wind or solar technologies nor for practical batteries for EVs.
The solution seems simple enough. Build a starter laser, similar to a starter capacitor on an electric motor, and when the fusion kicks off, send the energy through a power feedback loop. 2 megajoules maintains the reaction, and 1 megajoule is created for power consumption.
Who do I see about my consulting contract?
I didn’t fall for it this time...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.