Any polywell news?
On the serious side, I can understand extreme curiosity in what is going on, but as for myself, my respect for folks doing their job trumps even extreme curiosity. No sense in crowding or distracting folks doing the work. Just my own point of view.
Best regards
Best regards
Counting the days to commercial fusion. It is not that long now.
Tom Ligon wrote:The one little tidbit I'll offer is that they no longer leave their garage bay door open. Evidently some people were nosy!
Other than that, I'll say it is really shiny.
And that's all you get from me.
My theory on "shininess" which also covers why the funds are being used so slowly; shortly after a big first group of tests were done, a problem emerged with how the polywell works, not an insurmountable one, but a tough one that could not be found until after the new diagnostics and resolution of WB 8.0 were up and running.
Candidate problems include problems with electron or ion flow coupling to vacuum chamber walls or faraday cage around the polywell.
Another possibility that involves shiny would be electron loss to non-protected surfaces--like the ceramic or teflon coil standoffs previous Polywells have used.
Anyway, changing that kind of stuff, especially if it involved magnetically insulating standoffs, would not be budget busting but would definitely be time consuming.
Tom.Cuddihy
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Faith is the foundation of reason.
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Faith is the foundation of reason.
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Other area of speculation: Why did someone (presumably EMC2) invite Tom Ligon to see the current machine? What technical issues require Tom's expertise? Given Tom's bent to writing, perhaps EMC2 is getting ready to publish results in more popular media (e.g. Analog)?
"Aqaba! By Land!" T. E. Lawrence
R. Peters
R. Peters
Another possibility is that I've signed a series of NDAs over the years, in order to be allowed to visit. And if I want to in the future I need to honor them.
I did figure I could save you guys the bother of hanging around the garage door, though.
I had a standing invitation, and took advantage of my wife wanting to visit San Diego again to make a visit to the new lab the high point of my vacation. The official excuse was to turn over some of my notes to help decipher some old data dating way back before any of the present crew were on hand. Nothing earth-shaking.
I'll share this much. I'm quite impressed with Dr. Park, and convinced he is approaching the project with the proper scientific mindset ... skeptical and demanding reviewable proof. I would expect you won't get anything speculative out of him. I think the right team is on the job.
I did figure I could save you guys the bother of hanging around the garage door, though.
I had a standing invitation, and took advantage of my wife wanting to visit San Diego again to make a visit to the new lab the high point of my vacation. The official excuse was to turn over some of my notes to help decipher some old data dating way back before any of the present crew were on hand. Nothing earth-shaking.
I'll share this much. I'm quite impressed with Dr. Park, and convinced he is approaching the project with the proper scientific mindset ... skeptical and demanding reviewable proof. I would expect you won't get anything speculative out of him. I think the right team is on the job.
Sounds good, but I hope you didn't just reveal a trade secret.Tom Ligon wrote:I'll share this much. I'm quite impressed with Dr. Park, and convinced he is approaching the project with the proper scientific mindset ... skeptical and demanding reviewable proof. I would expect you won't get anything speculative out of him. I think the right team is on the job.
Temperature, density, confinement time: pick any two.
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Snark warning
I think the right team is on the job.
That my friends I think Is the trade secret.
I ask you, how many times does industry or government manage to put the right people on the job?
Just asking.
I think the right team is on the job.
That my friends I think Is the trade secret.
I ask you, how many times does industry or government manage to put the right people on the job?
Just asking.
Optimist: Glass is half full
Pessimist: Glass is half empty
Engineer: Someone made that glass twice
as large as it needs to be.
Pessimist: Glass is half empty
Engineer: Someone made that glass twice
as large as it needs to be.
Come to think of it, it was kinda like looking at a shiny new sports car.
Tho', if I were talking about a lot of shiny stainless steel, a Delorean might be a better analogy. I mean, all other factors aside, a Delorean in showroom condition was something to see.
For classics and shiny, there's this mint-condition DC-3 in the avionics department hangar at Ohio University that I've admired for hours when visiting. Full polish ... a workhorse that they also show off.
Tho', if I were talking about a lot of shiny stainless steel, a Delorean might be a better analogy. I mean, all other factors aside, a Delorean in showroom condition was something to see.
For classics and shiny, there's this mint-condition DC-3 in the avionics department hangar at Ohio University that I've admired for hours when visiting. Full polish ... a workhorse that they also show off.
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