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: Re: Tesla Coil
Date: Oct 04, 4:07 pm
Poster: Richard HullOn Oct 04, 4:07 pm, Richard Hull wrote:
>The whole idea of a good fusor is to increase the area under the curve which can undergo the fusion. Get enough area and you go over unity. That's where increased fusor efficiency comes into play.
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>How to achieve this (IEC, magnetic, pinch, atomic explosion) is where inventiveness and creativity come to play.
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In the IEC we do not have a continous hot plasma in a large area, we have one single microscopic reaction zone. Ideally all of the components entering this zone are at fusion temperature. most of the fusors volume answers the maxwellian criteria, but that is not where the action is.
Miley, et al, have shown to my satisfaction, the potential well structure which contains the plasma at a fusion temperature. The problem remains one of increasing that small ideal reaction volume where all the material is at fusion temperature. There is the mystery.
There are two schools of thought on this. One says that the ions will be trapped in the potential well at the center over time and that the beams of incoming deuterons will have to be able to fuse the trapped fuel ions by slamming them with the full required energy in each incoming beam.
Another thought pattern is that there is no entrapment, per se, but that the incoming beams collide head on to do fusion at a much lower potential than might be assumed to be required with more or less stationary target fuel.
There is certainly some of both, but the collisional nature of the machine coupled with its very hot reaction area, makes it ideal for doing fusion rather easily. How, or if it can be scaled, is a loaded question.
I opt for the velocity space proposal of Hirsch as to why the area of interest at the core of the fusor makes it a non-maxwellian reaction zone.
Tom Ligon has told me in a personal get together here at our High Energy conclave over the weekend, that the Bussard device is looking better all the time. They are most happy with recent advances which remain strictly guarded. The device is pure IEC, but bears little resemblance to what we are fiddling with.
Richard Hull