General Fusion in the news

Point out news stories, on the net or in mainstream media, related to polywell fusion.

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choff
Posts: 2447
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2007 5:02 am
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by choff »

Put one of those in a ship and you should be able to hear those pistons firing on sonar.
CHoff

ladajo
Posts: 6258
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:18 pm
Location: North East Coast

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by ladajo »

Not for long.

:)
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)

paperburn1
Posts: 2484
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:53 am
Location: Third rock from the sun.

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by paperburn1 »

Found something only if this is who I thought it was I would have though the spelling to be better.
Hello Alan Boyle. A few things to clear up about emc2 and whatnot.
1. They're no longer at New Mexico, they're in California now. San Diego I believe.
2. I cant say too much, if my sources are correct, they're doing just fine. Hopefully they'll actually let people, like me, to help them do research in the future; there's issues with them accepting help.
3. WB effect is real (no big news there right?) I'm about 90% convinced that it's just the diamagnetic effect of the electrons that pushes the field out, again I could still be wrong in how I think it happens.
4. I talked to someone who works there, he said something along the lines of if we build it correctly and we overcome the technological difficulities, it will work. Notice it's not physics difficulties, its engineering difficulties.
5. I plan to do my PhD on geometric shape of a polywell to increase performance level. But money is a hard thing to come by, everywhere with DoE or DoD or whatever, if it's not toks or beam compression, dont talk to us. I'm talking to some people in the Air Force, hopefully they can help me.
I am not a nuclear physicist, but play one on the internet.

D Tibbets
Posts: 2775
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:52 am

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by D Tibbets »

Interesting perspective. It matches what Bussard said 7 years ago in his Google talk. It seems that the physics have been solved, and importantly, verified. Now, if only the results were openly available...

About the electron diamagnetic effects pushing outward to form the Polywell. What is the role of the ions? The plasma is almost neutral. FYI, while it is beyond my pay grade, there are interactions between the electron and ion pressures. This is mentioned in the partant application. It seems that the electron pressure is sufficient for maintaining the ion central pressure due to momentum interactions or something. I say this because I wonder how much the mixed species contribute to the final balance and if to first approximation, the electron pressure is indeed the important and limiting consideration.

Dan Tibbets
To error is human... and I'm very human.

paperburn1
Posts: 2484
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:53 am
Location: Third rock from the sun.

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by paperburn1 »

Confirmed annex opened near miramar
Energy/Matter Conversion Corporation Branch Location in San Diego, California 92121-2260
I am not a nuclear physicist, but play one on the internet.

DeltaV
Posts: 2245
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:05 am

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by DeltaV »

The SD, CA Brown Deer Rd address is old news.

The MD connection is new news, I think:
http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/UCC-Charte ... N&source=1

EDIT: Revived original incorporation:
http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/UCC-Charte ... +&TabNum=1

hanelyp
Posts: 2261
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:50 pm

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by hanelyp »

D Tibbets wrote:About the electron diamagnetic effects pushing outward to form the Polywell. What is the role of the ions? The plasma is almost neutral. FYI, while it is beyond my pay grade, there are interactions between the electron and ion pressures.
Given that ion energy is low at the edges of the plasma, ion partial pressure at the plasma / magnetic field interface would be low. Similarly, given that electron energy at the center is low, electron partial pressure there is low. My gut says total plasma pressure is constant across the interior volume. The chief role of ions on electron pressure would seem to be their impact on the potential well, kinetic+potential energy being constant across the volume.
The daylight is uncomfortably bright for eyes so long in the dark.

mvanwink5
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Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:07 am
Location: N.C. Mountains

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by mvanwink5 »

Put one of those in a ship and you should be able to hear those pistons firing on sonar.
Not for long
Looks like it is a large enough issue to go all out, throw caution to the wind, and spend a million a year to pursue an alternative. One thing for sure, for the foreseeable future if you want to find the fleet, just follow the fuel tankers.
Counting the days to commercial fusion. It is not that long now.

ladajo
Posts: 6258
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:18 pm
Location: North East Coast

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by ladajo »

mvanwink5 wrote:
Put one of those in a ship and you should be able to hear those pistons firing on sonar.
Not for long
Looks like it is a large enough issue to go all out, throw caution to the wind, and spend a million a year to pursue an alternative. One thing for sure, for the foreseeable future if you want to find the fleet, just follow the fuel tankers.
Finding the fleet is easy. You don't need to follow the tankers. ;) Doing something to the fleet can be a challenge.

If you want to hurt the fleet, then sink the tankers and smoke the sources.
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)

mvanwink5
Posts: 2143
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:07 am
Location: N.C. Mountains

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by mvanwink5 »

sink the tankers and smoke the sources.
Too practical for my taste. :lol:

PS I have been trying to size up Mr. S. At first I put him in the troll box, but I suspect he may actually be in real trouble. It is hard on the internet to see who is really on the other side of the looking glass and what one is dealing with. I suggest a heavy dose of compassion, just in case...That is my thinking.
Counting the days to commercial fusion. It is not that long now.

ladajo
Posts: 6258
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:18 pm
Location: North East Coast

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by ladajo »

Yes. Mr. S is an interesting one for sure. I suspect you may be right about hm having some real issues. I am going to try an engage him and see if he can stay on the rails. But I suspect he is in over his head, and this may cause him to derail. Again.
In any event, I suspect he will not be around long term.
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)

crowberry
Posts: 672
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:34 am

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by crowberry »

General Fusion has a fair chance of success, but they will face the problems of Raleigh-Taylor instability and lead impurities cooling the plasma as well as creating a powerful enough plasma injection system. Hopefully they can solve their issues and the good thing is that they have enough resources available to do something in a timely manner about issues that face them.
It will be interesting to follow their progress.

According to this interview they are not yet ready for the break even attempts because they cannot yet reach the needed conditions.
http://www.cleanbreak.ca/2013/09/06/gen ... he-masses/

GF has released a new press release:
http://generalfusion.com/downloads/gf_pr_wec2013.pdf

mvanwink5
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Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:07 am
Location: N.C. Mountains

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by mvanwink5 »

crowberry, the full scale plasma injection system has been built and tested. I am not sure why a bleed stream for the lead / lithium coolant wouldn't accommodate a purification process. I was wondering on how the vortex can be reestablished in one second, ready for the next plasma injection and if remaining turbulence might not interfere with the precision of the next acoustic collapse. I guess, they will find out. I am wondering if we will hear an announcement of net if / when they achieve it (their target is this year, not much time remaining, and they have time for a conference too), or if they go dark? Dark, dark, dark....but the NSA will know :twisted:

Back track on the full scale plasma, your point seems to be on target. From the Clean Break interview with GF:
Richardson:
We’ve struggled with getting the confinement and we’re probably at half of what we need. So we’re working on that…. The questions are, do we have the right water balloon, and can we improve our fingers so we don’t let any of the water balloon come through? On both those fronts we’ve made great improvements. Have we gotten to net-gain fusion conditions yet? No. Do I still believe we can get there? Yes. Has it taken longer than expected? Yes. Fusion is hard.
Counting the days to commercial fusion. It is not that long now.

parallel
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Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:24 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by parallel »

These guys have fused boron with a laser.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2 ... ashes.html

I wonder if this technique could be used to help in a hybrid Polywell.

GIThruster
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Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 8:17 pm

Re: General Fusion in the news

Post by GIThruster »

Honestly, this does look like an amazing breakthrough with stunning potential. It'll be fascinating to see where this goes.
"Courage is not just a virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis

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