Helium fusion?
Helium fusion?
I ran across this link and found it interesting: http://www.diane-neisius.de/fusor/index_E.html#intro
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Richard Hull
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Re: Helium fusion?
I found this among the more interesting expositions eluded to in this forum in a long time.
The basic premise of fusing He4 seemed ridiculous at the amateur level and I almost stopped reading the flow, but ultimately, her treatment of the mathematics, in spite of her bold and often dreamy assumptions, was rare and fine. No dummy work here, just lack of experience from the hands-on involving fusion.
Blessedly, she perservered with true hands on and learned via the good old school of hard knocks that the math and assumptions just weren't following through. Too many assumptions needed through too many mathermatical iterations carried on a geometrically growing error result. She also reported, having learned the hard way, all of the issues associated with plasmas, vacuums and operational issues so hard won here.
The pulsed fusor was a bold bit and we have discussed that a great deal in the past.
Again, nothing wrong with the math, per se, nothing wrong with the concept, at its core, but inspite of the abject failure of the 4He fusion effort, for all the work over what seems like a few years, she can now hold her own with any fusioneer on theory and many operational aspects. It is a pity there was no instrumentation or deuterium at hand for her. She has the "right stuff" and I am sure she could have fused, had some crtical road blocks not limited her efforts. (deuterium fusion, of course....Not 4He)
As is usually the case, I did not check to see if she was ever here as a sign-in, but I am tempted to induct her into the plasma club, If I have not already. Rare to see this level of work and effort over a period like this. Very well done and very well presented.
Thanks Alexander for posting this. It was worth the read and inspiring, for sure.
Richard Hull
The basic premise of fusing He4 seemed ridiculous at the amateur level and I almost stopped reading the flow, but ultimately, her treatment of the mathematics, in spite of her bold and often dreamy assumptions, was rare and fine. No dummy work here, just lack of experience from the hands-on involving fusion.
Blessedly, she perservered with true hands on and learned via the good old school of hard knocks that the math and assumptions just weren't following through. Too many assumptions needed through too many mathermatical iterations carried on a geometrically growing error result. She also reported, having learned the hard way, all of the issues associated with plasmas, vacuums and operational issues so hard won here.
The pulsed fusor was a bold bit and we have discussed that a great deal in the past.
Again, nothing wrong with the math, per se, nothing wrong with the concept, at its core, but inspite of the abject failure of the 4He fusion effort, for all the work over what seems like a few years, she can now hold her own with any fusioneer on theory and many operational aspects. It is a pity there was no instrumentation or deuterium at hand for her. She has the "right stuff" and I am sure she could have fused, had some crtical road blocks not limited her efforts. (deuterium fusion, of course....Not 4He)
As is usually the case, I did not check to see if she was ever here as a sign-in, but I am tempted to induct her into the plasma club, If I have not already. Rare to see this level of work and effort over a period like this. Very well done and very well presented.
Thanks Alexander for posting this. It was worth the read and inspiring, for sure.
Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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Chris Bradley
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Re: Helium fusion?
Yes, we have discussed 'laser Diane's' work before, here.
The thing with the 'tri-alpha' reaction is that it is a 3 body reaction. It may well be possible to access the 4He+4He->8Be fusion, but as it splits back into two He's again in ~attoseconds it is, at any practical amateur level at terrestrial plasma densities, virtually indistinguishable from a Coulomb collision between the He's! Maybe there are, indeed, millions of 8Be/s being generated in a helium fusor at a modest multi 10's kV ... but you'd never know!!!!
In a star, the density is so high that during an 8Be's attosecond lifetime there is a 'real' possibility that another 4He will come along during that lifetime and make it up to 12C. At amateur plasma densities?.. forget it!
Is there any way of detecting the creation of an 8Be during its attosecond lifetime?? I can't see how ....
The thing with the 'tri-alpha' reaction is that it is a 3 body reaction. It may well be possible to access the 4He+4He->8Be fusion, but as it splits back into two He's again in ~attoseconds it is, at any practical amateur level at terrestrial plasma densities, virtually indistinguishable from a Coulomb collision between the He's! Maybe there are, indeed, millions of 8Be/s being generated in a helium fusor at a modest multi 10's kV ... but you'd never know!!!!
In a star, the density is so high that during an 8Be's attosecond lifetime there is a 'real' possibility that another 4He will come along during that lifetime and make it up to 12C. At amateur plasma densities?.. forget it!
Is there any way of detecting the creation of an 8Be during its attosecond lifetime?? I can't see how ....