Fusion Message Board

In this space, visitors are invited to post any comments, questions, or skeptical observations about Philo T. Farnsworth's contributions to the field of Nuclear Fusion research.

Subject: Hirsch visit - energy conservation
Date: Aug 11, 4:17 pm
Poster: Richard Hull

On Aug 11, 4:17 pm, Richard Hull wrote:

All,

I just returned from a nice visit with Robert Hirsch. We talked about a number of matters, both scientific and historical. He was most pleasant and kind to give a large portion of his business day to see me regarding the original ITT/Farnsworth effort 59-68.

The key thing is that in one interesting part of the collisional energy discussion, he reminded me that the collisional energies are summed (in head- ons) and not multiplied by a factor of four which was discussed sometime back. You just can't violate the law of conservtion of energy. The particles fall through a potential and acquire energy E and when colliding head on, the net energy is never more than 2E.

One might look at it as each of the two particles views the other as a brick wall and each expends their respective energies into that wall with a net energy expenditure of 2E.

I hope to share a few neat photos of the visit via Stephen's and or Jochen's web pages.

Richard Hull