Joseph Chikva wrote:Dear Dr. 93143
Hold up - I'm not done my Ph.D. yet. Still working on it...
Joseph Chikva wrote:93143 wrote:Heating means adding kinetic energy without a corresponding net addition of momentum;
This is acceleration and not heating as heating is the following:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat Heat is energy transferred from one system to another by thermal interaction.[1][2] In contrast to work, heat is always accompanied by a transfer of entropy. Heat flow is characteristic of macroscopic objects and systems, but its origin and properties can be understood in terms of their microscopic constituents.
That is the common understanding of the noun "heat", yes. However, the verb is a bit different (though as I noted in my previous post, it is still usually understood to refer to a thermal process). In special situations dealing with systems that exhibit substantial non-thermal behaviour, as Polywell is claimed to, the word "heating" may legitimately be extended to cover non-thermal energy addition. English does allow this sort of thing.
I am not here claiming that EMC2 has necessarily done this. They may (for all we know) simply be talking about a thermal plasma. But their choice of words does not prove it.
"Acceleration" as commonly understood means addition of kinetic energy
with a corresponding increase in net momentum. Certainly it is (on its own, without elaboration) a misleading and inaccurate term for what electron injection is supposed to do in a Polywell.
Besides, just because the distribution is nonthermal doesn't mean it's beamlike. "Heating" is a much more useful term in general, unless you want to try to make one up...?
And I do not see difference between "heating" and "thrmalization".
The difference is that they are conceptually two different things. Even if I were to grant (which I do not) that "heating" can
only ever describe energy addition occurring very near thermodynamic equilibrium or having thermodynamic equilibrium as a proximate endpoint, the process of relaxation towards that equilibrium is still a separate physical process that requires a different word to describe it.
Basically, what tomclarke said.
In fact, heating even in the conventional sense generally involves an excursion from thermodynamic equilibrium, which thermalization is then required to counter. For instance, if you assume complete thermodynamic equilibrium in a fluid, you end up with the Euler equations...