Recent content by BrianConlee

Do you know of anyone at NASA who is NOT a fan of Star Trek? (at least next generation)

but everyone knows all that heat generated from the nuclear power plant leaves a huge wake of heated water that glows on an infrared scan right? I have some detailed schematics of the power plant and turbine system. Hold on... there's some men in suits with sunglasses at the door... I'll be...

phyzguy, thank you so much, this resource is wonderful!

But Curl, following the logic of D-t being a lot easier that D-D, (that much easier than proton proton) due to the larger cross section: A T-T would have an even larger cross section than a D-T with the same amount of positive charge repulsion? When I "imagine T-T," I'm imagining T-T being...

I've been looking for information on this but can't seem to find any... So I come to this wonderful place to find answers :) Everything I read about fusion power talks about D-T fusion being the ideal. I have two questions: 1. Why isn't a T-T reaction ever discussed? (does it happen...

I thought of another brief thought experiment you can use to illustrate your point... We "contain" our sun in a huge container. We then "quench" it, and cool it down to room temperature, while preventing it from collapsing or expanding. Density stays constant. Then we take the sun out of the...

I know our sun has a much higher density than any tokamak we've yet built, but it's temperature is a lot lower. I was wondering why we don't attempt higher densities in our fusion projects to more closely model the sun? Is it because it has a relatively low fusion rate? (due to the low...

Woo hoo... Finally I'm getting somewhere. :) Today Capacitors, tomorrow the world! Thank you all for responding and keep a young scientist/inventor/lover going strong.

Ok, now I'm starting to understand this a lot better. ( I did fall asleep, but thank you!) I kept seeing that equation also, but I didn't connect the dots like that. So, as I increase distance, I have to increase voltage in the equation to maintain any given Q. This does lead to a new question...

I have a capacitor. Two plates, air dielectric: nothing fancy... in a simple circuit. A simple circuit containing a dc voltage source and the capacitor. I turn on the voltage source to the capacitor. When it is charged fully, I pull the two plates apart. (see image) I leave the voltage...

9 scientists in a room... 10 different opinions. I agree every aspect of fusion should be fully funded and researched. If only we could generate muons more efficiently! (And make them a more efficient catalyst). It's always been my imagination that real working fusion power is going to have...

I had forgotten about this post, but I LOVE the conversation and where it's going. I've been obsessed reading, re-reading, re-re-re-rereading just over and over again and learning about fusion projects. I think more than anything, I hope the Polywell doesn't go the way of cold fusion... If it's...

so with that higher density, does it increase the chances the neutron would hit and stick to a nucleus?

I see. It appears our target it just to small, making the probability infinitesimal. I understand why the tritium breeding methods using lithium 6 and 7 is preferred now. Let's add another factor into the mix. This may not be researched, but it may require you to "best guess" or...

george, so, in theory, if we could attain and maintain that kind of compression level, we could keep a high power fusion reaction going. I know this goes without saying fuel in and waste helium "ash" out. (imagine a continuous reaction... or perhaps a pulsed) Sophie, you make a...