Talk-Polywell.org

You may have just killed Polywell. I doubt it. The physics are not going to change. What may change is the way or party that *executes* it and puts these physics into practice. Even if the Navy project gets completely scrubbed (which I sincerely question), there will always be another party who giv...

The question I have at this is how to determine the 'incapable' part. Does it mean a physical or mental disability? Does it constitute the lack of intelligence or knowledge to be able to raise your spawn in a responsible manner? For example, I have a mild form of high functioning autism (Asperger's)...

It should be clear that If you heat the reactants to your maximum chamber temperature, and then get additional chemical energy from them afterwards, that your final temperature will be higher afterward than if you heat the resultant... The point is that cracking the water into separate reactants (H...

- The 'combustion' chamber has to support electric heating. This shouldn't be a big deal. Peak temperature is the same in both cases. So, basically, you just want to build a fusion-powered kettle? ;) You do seem to be working on the assumption that direct conversion is going to work for Polywell an...

GIThruster wrote:The air inside the rocket tube is used as propellant.

Which would simply make it useless as a launchcraft up to orbit. You're still going to need to carry propellant for the part up where there's no air. This is more like a pulse jet than it's a rocket.

... and how are they going to propel that once it hits thin atmosphere? In situations close to the ground, this will probably work, using the atmosphere as a working fluid and heating it through inductive heating of the rocket, or heating up the water vapor in the atmosphere. However, once you're cl...

Sorry about possible thread necromancing here, but I had a bit of a brain-fart yesterday: To what extent is it possible to combine the 'best of both worlds' for Tokamak and Polywell-type devices into a more feasible concept? More specific, I was thinking of two ideas: * Applying the high trapping fa...

Or when your doodad which fits in a cargo container is the only thing on the butt end of the world/solar system that can produce what you need exactly how you need it. Or if you have one in your garage built from plans and so you find it easier to feed in some scrap and save on buying it. "Tea. Ear...

Yes, since we must counter torque, I'd like to get some lift out of in the bargain and avoid higher mass. DeltaV: Although you certainly want to build a sexy vehicle, I don't think we are going to agree, but here goes... Please tell me how eight fans closing inlet doors distributed around the vehic...

rjaypeters wrote:I think the polywell reactors should be called either: "Bussards" or "Bussard/Nebels". If the reactors really work out, there won't be any need to remind people they fuse or react things.

You could just do Farnsworth a favor and call the whole lot 'fusors'.

Coming round full circle again...

1. A helicopter phase powered by the very high voltage DC motors (which are yet to be invented) or stepped-down voltage motor (I know - weight penalty). The advantage here is the motors are kept inside the body of the vehicle and we don't attempt to carry ducts into space. Although I don't much lik...

WizWom wrote:We are tampering with the fabric of TIME!

I like the bit at the end where he disappears from his cell. Quite cute.

Given the abundance of tweed on his outfit, I can conclude that his cell was bigger on the inside.

Or he had some help from River Song.

A hover train causes a lot less stress on the rails underneath, therefore you don't need gravel to keep the rails in place. So dual use of the track is out of the question? I meant to say that it does NOT cause a lot of stress on the underlying track, as opposed to a (steel-)wheeled train. If grave...

I'm not thinking of the load. I'm thinking of blasts of air throwing the gravel outside the trackway. The reason you need gravel ballast is to keep the rails in place as the train runs over them and causes vibration. A hover train causes a lot less stress on the rails underneath, therefore you don'...

Think of the air blast blowing the ballast from the track. I don't think that will work. Plus I think you will need some kind of half tube (i.e. side rails) to keep the train unequivocally on the track. The amount of surface load (and thus ballast required) is a lot less than with wheeled track. Ke...