Nuclear Fusion closer to becoming a reality?

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Arthur Dent
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Re: Nuclear Fusion closer to becoming a reality?

Post by Arthur Dent »

TGantz wrote:
February 12 22, 8:22 am
I don't know if it has been asked, but what kind of thermometer can read heat that is supposedly the level of the sun?

Weber digital meat thermometer?
I know this is joke, but also interesting question. It turns out you do it by looking at the light emission:

https://andor.oxinst.com/learning/view/ ... cd-cameras

The common method for plasmas to obtain temperatures and densities is to make use of the optical emission of the line radiation of excited atoms or ions. The spectral width of one such line is governed by the Doppler effect and thus provides a measurement of the velocity distribution, which effectively represents the temperature. The total intensity of this line is proportional to the density of the ions. However, in the hot core of a fusion plasma, all ions are fully ionized, and no line radiation will be emitted, making it impossible for a passive spectroscopic technique to obtain the temperature and density. So in a fusion reactor only the cold edge emits light and the centre is not accessible for spectroscopic investigations, see Figure 2.

Image

Figure 2: Picture of visible light emission in the ASDEX--UG tokamak. This radiation only originate from the cold edge of the plasma. No light is emitted from the hot core.

By actively injecting neutral deuterium atoms into the hot plasma, there is a certain probability that the helium ions pick up an electron from this injected atom and thus is able to radiate line emission in the visible wavelength region. A spectroscopic measurement of this light allows to determine the helium density (from the intensity) and the ion temperature (from the width of this line). This technique is referred to as Charge Exchange Recombination Spectroscopy, CXRS in short.

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TGantz
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Re: Nuclear Fusion closer to becoming a reality?

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Right, that was my second guess.

I'm not qualified to participate in this conversarion. But I would say it doesn't seem like a good idea to try to harness any power equal to a billion year old star capable of blinding us from millions of miles away, but hey, I'm a simple minded guy.

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Re: Nuclear Fusion closer to becoming a reality?

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TGantz wrote:
February 18 22, 1:30 pm
Right, that was my second guess.

I'm not qualified to participate in this conversarion. But I would say it doesn't seem like a good idea to try to harness any power equal to a billion year old star capable of blinding us from millions of miles away, but hey, I'm a simple minded guy.
With this kind of attitude, Ephram Cochran will never invent the warp drive and catch the attention of the Vulcans!!!

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thrill
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Re: Nuclear Fusion closer to becoming a reality?

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The dept of energy is, at this very moment, announcing a major breakthrough in fusion research. Could be a very proud day for the USA. LETS GO BRANDON BABY!

Last edited by thrill on December 13 22, 9:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

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heyzeus
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Re: Nuclear Fusion closer to becoming a reality?

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I hope in 2030 GRB is still here and we can bump this thread with "we're even closer to reality!"

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Re: Nuclear Fusion closer to becoming a reality?

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"WE MIGHT NOT BE [expletive]!!!"
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mikechamp
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Re: Nuclear Fusion closer to becoming a reality?

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I like how they slipped the little sinister part in there at the end:
“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to supporting our world-class scientists — like the team at NIF — whose work will help us solve humanity’s most complex and pressing problems, like providing clean power to combat climate change and maintaining a nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing.”

Arthur Dent
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Re: Nuclear Fusion closer to becoming a reality?

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heyzeus wrote:
December 13 22, 9:50 am
I hope in 2030 GRB is still here and we can bump this thread with "we're even closer to reality!"
Yeah. Worth pointing out that this thing cost $3.5 billion to build, was supposed to finish construction around the turn of the century and immediately achieve a positive energy balance. Instead, it opened about a decade later and only now produced the desired threshold in one shot. The energy produced doesn’t actually get harvested, only calculated, and is actually quite small despite the massive ordeal and equipment required to create it.

Also, as I understand it, the fusion energy stuff is to some degree the sales pitch, but what they can definitely do is use this facility is to create conditions similar to those in thermonuclear explosions to aid weapon design.

That said, it’s an important achievement, and I hope it yields practical results in the not so distant future.

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Re: Nuclear Fusion closer to becoming a reality?

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

Is there a synopsis of how they achieved it? How long/sustainable is the reaction? Etc. All I've found is the breakthrough is a net energy gain in a controlled fusion experiment.

Which is good, capital G Good maybe.

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Re: Nuclear Fusion closer to becoming a reality?

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Huge frickin laser beams focused on a tiny ball of deuterium and tritium.

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