A dozen cajun wings and baked beans...I will show you some real nuclear fusion!
OT: AKB: Is Nuclear Fusion a Real Possibility?
- Thread starter LionJim
- Start date
Understand where you're coming from but, without any scientific facts to back it up, I believe the human race will ultimately be able to harness nuclear fusion for its own benefit.
Modern humans supposedly have existed for about 200,000 years. For all but the most recent 119 or so of those years, the prevailing wisdom among many intelligent people regarding controlled, powered flight in the Earth's atmosphere held that if God wanted mankind to fly He would've given him wings, and I suppose those wings would've been on his back and would've flapped like a bird's -- or maybe an angel's. But they obviously weren't there. So, what was the natural conclusion?
Then, in December, 1903 a couple of obscure bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio turned conventional wisdom on its head and proved that, in fact, God had given Man wings. They were there all the time. It's just that they were in his mind, not on his back where conventional wisdom would've had them. The Wrights' first flight wasn't much, a forty-yard jump over a large puddle, but that turned out to be enough of a start to allow astronauts to land on the Moon 66 years later. Or, put another way, the modern human race required nearly 200,000 years of existence to figure out how to fly in Earth's atmosphere at all. Then, in 66 years, a little less than the average length of a single human lifetime, it went from not being able fly at all --- to the Moon.
Am guessing that, in 2022, controlling the fusion reaction may appear to some like the mastering of controlled, powered atmospheric flight looked to their 19th- or early 20th century grandfathers, i.e. nearly-, and probably totally-, impossible. But if past is prologue, at some point science will produce the necessary breakthrough(s) and, assuming humanity can also find a way to avoid using its existing, scientifically-developed, nuclear fusion weaponology to blow itself to bits in the meantime, will then move on to the next "impossibility" like, say, time travel, or wormholes or ...???
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Excellent post.
It's amazing to look at the technology we have today (internet, cell phones, air travel, ....) and to think how they'd have been perceived by humans in the 18th century as impossible. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
But here we are in 2022 with these things we now take for granted. Seems to me the latest breakthrough at Lawrence Liverpool will almost certainly lead to more widespread use of fusion as a source of energy in some number of decades; militarily, commercially, and residentially.
University of Rochester selected to receive a 10 Mil (out of 42 mil total) grant on fusion energy along with Lawrence Livermore and Colorado State.
www.rochester.edu
Rochester’s Laser Lab heads new national inertial fusion energy hub
Federal funding brings together inertial fusion energy experts to chart a viable path to realizing fusion energy as a clean power source.
www.rochester.edu
It’s Friday , and I think I need a Singapore sling to digest this weeks maths and science .
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www.reuters.com
US scientists repeat fusion ignition breakthrough for 2nd time
U.S. scientists have achieved net energy gain in a fusion reaction for the second time since December, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said on Sunday.
www.reuters.com
Has anything happened to Ranga Dias ?University of Rochester selected to receive a 10 Mil (out of 42 mil total) grant on fusion energy along with Lawrence Livermore and Colorado State.
Rochester’s Laser Lab heads new national inertial fusion energy hub
Federal funding brings together inertial fusion energy experts to chart a viable path to realizing fusion energy as a clean power source.
Looks like Ranga has left Univ of Rochester back in Nov 2024. After the university conducted 4 investigations of his research data mismanagement on room temperature superconductivity. Doesn't say if he was fired or left on his own. Local news never reported much of anything on this whole thing.
I remember reading this thread and it seeming a near impossibility to make fusion energy a reality. Yesterday I heard that Trump's media company is merging with TAE Technologies and bring a first fusion plant to the US by 2031. Color me skeptical.
I'd say this particular merger is another attempt to commit legal theft.
Some people are saying there will be massive fusion like no one has ever seen!
“Essentially, TAE needed funding, and TMG was looking for investment opportunities. Given the family's history of investing in areas with supportive policies, this deal might indicate increased government support for nuclear energy — both fusion and fission — to power AI development,” he said. 
LINK: Deal or not, the nuclear fusion age is far from imminent
LINK: Deal or not, the nuclear fusion age is far from imminent
I think the MIT prof who was murdered was working on fusion.
I have read fusion is getting real close. Bill gates and some of the large tech companies have invested billions since they need the power. They think it is coming.
MIT grads have a private company working in it. Commonwealth fusion.
I have read fusion is getting real close. Bill gates and some of the large tech companies have invested billions since they need the power. They think it is coming.
MIT grads have a private company working in it. Commonwealth fusion.
I heard CEO of OKLO on CNBC the other day that they can use plutonium as a bridge for boosting data center energy requirements until more options are available. There is plenty of plutonium available from previous wars that is only set to be destroyed and can be used for this. Just passing on, don’t shoot the messenger.
My daughter with her doctorate in Nuclear Engineering works at the one place that had success with fusion ignition, Lawrence Livermore. She does not think this is going to be something that will be a useful technology anywhere in the near term future (10-20 years). I will add that she doesn’t work in the nuclear power field at LL NL, although she does know some who do.
I was lead sales executive selling 3D solid modeling solution called Pro/Engineer to LLNL national ignition facility (NIF) mid 90s. That's the fusion project that supposedly reached breakthrough in 2022. The scientists told me that by 2050 they will have fusion mainstreamed.
Was just gonna mention Commonwealth Fusion Systems. I'm hearing they are getting very close.
Spend the research money on building long term spent fuel storage facilities for conventional nuclear waste like Finland just built instead of on pie in the fusion. Build smaller scale conventional reactors. We don’t need a Ferrari when 1,000 Volkswagons will do.
A lot of smart kids out there . The board’s wives must be brainiacs. Congrats doc.
The key to nuclear fusion is that you need the nuclei of atoms sufficiently close enough together at sufficiently high enough temperatures for nuclei to move fast enough in order to fuse. The nucleus of one atom doesn't like being close to the nucleus of another atom because they have the same charge (positive), and so they naturally repel each other (the electromagnetic force). The conditions have to be powerful enough for the nuclei to overcome the electromagnetic force. It's extremely difficult to achieve these conditions without it requiring more energy to be put into it than is generated as a result of it using current tech.
The Sun has been doing it constantly for a few billion years now.
As I understand it, if nuclear fusion is ever perfected here on Earth it will make pretty much all other energy sources irrelevant because it will be so much better (again, if it's perfected to the point it can be mass produced as opposed to just doing it once or twice in a big lab). Can someone with more knowledge on the subject give some thoughts on that assertion?
So in other words, the media was spouting nonsense 50 years ago just like they do now.
Seriously, the media, and Fleischman and Pons, should have been more responsible. I don't recall. Were Fleischman and Pons purposely trying to pull a fast one or were they just delusional? Not good either way.
It is not often that I get to respond to a question about a post I made almost four years ago (2/12/2022 on page 1 of this thread).
Pons and Fleischmann fell prey to the lure of believing their incomplete and misleading data set. See:
Pathological science - Wikipedia
FYI A small effort in cold fusion is still going on where I work. I think it those doing it are falling prey to the psychological trap described in the above article.
Now on to real fusion. A friend from grad school has worked in hot fusion for decades and says commercialization has serious problems. See:
Fusion reactors: Not what they’re cracked up to be
Long touted as the “perfect” energy source, fusion reactors share many drawbacks with fission—and even add a few new ones of their own.
thebulletin.org
Short summary: Large scale commercialization is still decdes away, if then.
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Thanks for the insight @Leo Ridens. Always a treat to read your technical posts. Hope this finds you well.It is not often that I get to respond to a question about a post I made almost four years ago (2/12/2022 on page 1 of this thread).
Pons and Fleischmann fell prey to the lure of believing their incomplete and misleading data set. See:
Pathological science - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
FYI A small effort in cold fusion is still going on where I work. I think it those doing it are falling prey to the psychological trap described in the above article.
Now on to real fusion. A friend from grad school has worked in hot fusion for decades and says commercialization has serious problems. See:
Fusion reactors: Not what they’re cracked up to be
Long touted as the “perfect” energy source, fusion reactors share many drawbacks with fission—and even add a few new ones of their own.
Short summary: Large scale commercialization is still decdes away, if then.
Thanks, LionJim. I am well, as I hope you are. You are one poster I always read.
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