Fusor Equations
Fusor Equations
Can anyone point me to the base set of equations one needs to design their own fusor? I would prefer not to start from scratch, deriving things already known, or not taking account of practical guidelines that have been determined. Thanks, JGN
Re: Fusor Equations
Most of the details to operation, equipment and safety, can be found by using the search function.
Just type in FAQ and a good many gems will be revealed. I've been around for awhile now and still find the FAQ search useful.
Also use the search(since yesterday to find the latest topics.
Joe Sal
Just type in FAQ and a good many gems will be revealed. I've been around for awhile now and still find the FAQ search useful.
Also use the search(since yesterday to find the latest topics.
Joe Sal
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Carl Willis
- Posts: 2841
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- Real name: Carl Willis
- Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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Re: Fusor Equations
I'd suggest you become conceptually well-grounded, and the necessary calculations will then follow pretty naturally.
"Designing" a fusor, to the extent practiced by most successful hobbyists, does not involve heavy-duty mathematics. The vast bulk of it is simple geometry, Ohm's law, and calculating how much money is left for the month's Ramen Noodle budget after buying that turbopump (just kidding, this need not be an expensive pursuit).
On the other hand, nobody can claim that the fundamental plasma, atomic, and nuclear physics concepts in play are straightforward enough to use as a reliable quantitative design basis. The physics is often a useful guide for what to do to make improvements or explain a certain behavior, but when it comes to building something for starters, people employ the parts they have or copy the tried-and-true geometry of someone else's precedent work.
-Carl
"Designing" a fusor, to the extent practiced by most successful hobbyists, does not involve heavy-duty mathematics. The vast bulk of it is simple geometry, Ohm's law, and calculating how much money is left for the month's Ramen Noodle budget after buying that turbopump (just kidding, this need not be an expensive pursuit).
On the other hand, nobody can claim that the fundamental plasma, atomic, and nuclear physics concepts in play are straightforward enough to use as a reliable quantitative design basis. The physics is often a useful guide for what to do to make improvements or explain a certain behavior, but when it comes to building something for starters, people employ the parts they have or copy the tried-and-true geometry of someone else's precedent work.
-Carl
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Todd Massure
- Posts: 443
- Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2004 12:38 am
- Real name: Todd Massure
Re: Fusor Equations
This brings up an interesting point that it might be nice to gather all the equations tossed around here into one FAQ.
Start with the stuff you really need; Ohm's law and basic electrical and electronics stuff and maybe some vacuum rules of thumb, then move on to the more theoretical stuff like mean free path equations, conversions from velocity to kinetic energy, neutron flux calcs (actually this one might be in the first section)
This is just for starters, but it might be worth doing.
Todd
Start with the stuff you really need; Ohm's law and basic electrical and electronics stuff and maybe some vacuum rules of thumb, then move on to the more theoretical stuff like mean free path equations, conversions from velocity to kinetic energy, neutron flux calcs (actually this one might be in the first section)
This is just for starters, but it might be worth doing.
Todd