This sounds too much like Spider Man 2
This sounds too much like Spider Man 2
Spider Man 2 was a tiny bit too close for my comfort. How does Hollywood get that close to right?
- Captain Seafort
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Re: This sounds too much like Spider Man 2
Because the basic principles of laser-initiated fusion have been around for donkey's years.
Only two things are infinite - the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe: Albert Einstein.
Re: This sounds too much like Spider Man 2
Is donkey's years some sort of British slang? But besides that, it's still really awesome that we're getting this close to Fusion power, if this doesn't completely kill us, it will eventually revolutionize the energy we use.
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Re: This sounds too much like Spider Man 2
Best of luck to them, hope it works out.
And for god sakes, will the news media get over all this "scientists are going to blow up the earth" nonsense already?
And for god sakes, will the news media get over all this "scientists are going to blow up the earth" nonsense already?
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Re: This sounds too much like Spider Man 2
Yeah. It means for many years.Nickswitz wrote:Is donkey's years some sort of British slang?
There's absolutely no way fusion like this could kill us.But besides that, it's still really awesome that we're getting this close to Fusion power, if this doesn't completely kill us, it will eventually revolutionize the energy we use.
Few years back I was at a lecture from a couple of physicists, of whom worked on laser fusion and the other on D-T toroid types. They were both very confident that fusion power would be here in a couple of decades - and yeah, I know physicists have been saying that for 60 years now, but they did make a good case. The laser guy's approach seemed a bit more pie in the sky, though.
Give a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. SET a man on fire, and you will keep him warm for the rest of his life...
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Re: This sounds too much like Spider Man 2
It's the sustaining a laser based reaction I wonder about. The toroid guys have a hell of a time getting things in the positive but sustaining the reaction is conceptually a lot more doable than sustaining a solely laser based system.
Re: This sounds too much like Spider Man 2
Can't believe I didn't see this earlier. I've being semi-specialising in the physics behind this (lasers, photonics, and various theoretical and applied nuclear physics modules). At the moment the magnetic plasma confinement approach is winning the race, particularly with ITER coming online relatively soon, while the laser guys are suffering from a lack of funding.
Don't expect to have a serious fraction of your country's power grid coming from nuclear fusion for another 60 years, though.
The laser based system is essentially a series of thermonuclear explosions that lasts of order nanosecond at increadibly high density. It makes it increadibly hard to keep the pulses effective.
Don't expect to have a serious fraction of your country's power grid coming from nuclear fusion for another 60 years, though.
The laser based system is essentially a series of thermonuclear explosions that lasts of order nanosecond at increadibly high density. It makes it increadibly hard to keep the pulses effective.
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