Fusion Breakthrough
Discussion
Well here it is. Several news sources are citing that a US tech company has managed to make fusion a possibility. Claims are being made that this exact experiment was able to generate more energy output than was originally put in.. magic beans or world breaking science?
Convenient timing considering the global fuel crisis and the current state of Russian politics. Shame they said it would be greatly benefiting defence and military use (national security implications).
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdWI2gF8hc4
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-639...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI4rWcu9LIg
Make of that what you will.
Convenient timing considering the global fuel crisis and the current state of Russian politics. Shame they said it would be greatly benefiting defence and military use (national security implications).
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdWI2gF8hc4
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-639...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI4rWcu9LIg
Make of that what you will.
LordFlathead said:
<clip> Claims are being made that this exact experiment was able to generate more energy output than was originally put in...
Except that they didn't count the energy used to power the lasers that created the heat to cause the fusion. To me that smacks of cheating. RichB said:
Except that they didn't count the energy used to power the lasers that created the heat to cause the fusion. To me that smacks of cheating.
The point is the reaction produced more energy than went in, which is still a first. Total breakeven is still going to be some way off. No-one is "cheating" 
RichB said:
LordFlathead said:
<clip> Claims are being made that this exact experiment was able to generate more energy output than was originally put in...
Except that they didn't count the energy used to power the lasers that created the heat to cause the fusion. To me that smacks of cheating. "US tech company..." yeah whatever
RichB said:
Except that they didn't count the energy used to power the lasers that created the heat to cause the fusion. To me that smacks of cheating.
The BBC article said this"On announcing the breakthrough Dr Marvin Adams, deputy administrator for defense* programs at the US National Nuclear Security Administration, said that the laboratory's lasers had input 2.05 megajoules (MJ) of energy to the target, which had then produced 3.15 MJ of fusion energy output."
Or are they talking about the output energy of the lasers rather than input?
So is this kind of like a Supercharger in principle ?
It takes a load of power to drive it but it provides more power than it uses ?
Guessing it would be, if it works out and scales, pretty much the writing on the wall for Fossil fuels for a lot of applications.
Would it need another power generation method to produce the power to drive it, and theoretically if its producing more power than you put in, isnt that a kind of perpetual motion ? Or doesnt it work like that ?
It takes a load of power to drive it but it provides more power than it uses ?
Guessing it would be, if it works out and scales, pretty much the writing on the wall for Fossil fuels for a lot of applications.
Would it need another power generation method to produce the power to drive it, and theoretically if its producing more power than you put in, isnt that a kind of perpetual motion ? Or doesnt it work like that ?
This is big news but still only a step on a long trip.
Tried to find out the efficiency of the NIF lasers, in this link
https://physicsworld.com/a/national-ignition-facil...
it suggests the electrical energy in to output light energy is around 1%. Hmm, quite a way to go then!
Interested if anyone has better info.
Tried to find out the efficiency of the NIF lasers, in this link
https://physicsworld.com/a/national-ignition-facil...
it suggests the electrical energy in to output light energy is around 1%. Hmm, quite a way to go then!
Interested if anyone has better info.
BigBen said:
RichB said:
Except that they didn't count the energy used to power the lasers that created the heat to cause the fusion. To me that smacks of cheating.
The BBC article said this"On announcing the breakthrough Dr Marvin Adams, deputy administrator for defense* programs at the US National Nuclear Security Administration, said that the laboratory's lasers had input 2.05 megajoules (MJ) of energy to the target, which had then produced 3.15 MJ of fusion energy output."
Or are they talking about the output energy of the lasers rather than input?
ATG said:
Output of the lasers, so the "above unity" calc didn't include the actual amount of energy required to power the lasers, nor any of the other kit.
Having read another blog on this. This explains the various terms. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ4W1g-6JiY&ab_c...
It was Q plasma > 1
But Q total very much < 1
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