Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear Fusion

Cern 24 Jun 2011 21:29

So basically, the article states that they are conducting experiments where they are basically creating "A miniature star here on earth."
I know most of these scientists probably have children and such, but is it really neccesary to try to create a small star on earth- could it grow out of control?

I am sure this one will be a bit more fun for you guys to debunk instead of the ridiculous claims some people believe

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/us/24bclivermore.html?_r=1&ref=science

Re: Nuclear Fusion

3WMElliott 24 Jun 2011 22:03

But this doesn't need debunking. You'd be amazed at what's already been done on Earth in this type of field, and in other fields as well - hottest temperature ever detected on Earth is around 7 billion degree's Fahrenheit, at the RHIC in New York. Didn't last too long, wasn't even felt outside of the instrument in which it was detected.

The idea here isn't to create a literal star inside a lab somewhere, it's practically impossible. What's attempted instead is to use the same physics that go on inside the Sun to generate power, ideally an immense amount of power from a relatively small amount of initial 'stuff'.

Re: Nuclear Fusion

Cern 24 Jun 2011 22:40

Then I guess this is just more evidence of the amazing world we will live in post 2012

Re: Nuclear Fusion

3WMElliott 24 Jun 2011 22:51

Post? We've already done some amazing things, you should check out some stuff about the Z machine, if only to see how cool it looks. We don't need to wait for 2012 and beyond to be amazed. We might be more amazed, sure, but it's not like everything up until then is just boring.

Re: Nuclear Fusion

obaeyens 25 Jun 2011 00:59

I know most of these scientists probably have children and such, but is it really neccesary to try to create a small star on earth- could it grow out of control?

It can't get out of control. When you stop the fuel supply it stops. It is completely different than nuclear power station where the waste itself keeps on heating itself and needs to cooled down. The nuclear fusion can only hold as long as there is that magnetic field and I believe they use some kind of microwave to heat up the plasma. if something breaks then it automatically stops.

Also we already made many times fusion, aka hydrogen bomb.