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World's Most Powerful Electromagnet Unveiled

posted by takyon on Monday April 13 2015, @07:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the Big-Magnet dept.

Ethanol-fueled writes:

A local affiliate of CBS reports:

General Atomics is scheduled on Friday to unveil a 1,000-ton superconducting electromagnet to be used in a 35-nation fusion energy study. According to General Atomics, the Poway-built device that's powerful enough to lift an aircraft carrier out of the water will be showcased at a news conference in Poway.

The electromagnet will be used in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor experiments in France, in which scientists will try to create a burning plasma that demonstrates the feasibility of fusion energy. Clean fusion energy has been a holy grail for researchers looking for alternatives to standard nuclear energy and carbon-based fuels. Scientists say fusion energy does not create long-term waste products or meltdown risks.

General Atomics is more well-known for their Predator and Reaper military drones. As much negativity is swirling around these parts about the military industrial complex, there could be much potential benefit from the technological progress General Atomics and others are making. What do you all think?

 
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  • (Score: 2) by fleg on Monday April 13 2015, @09:06AM

    by fleg (128) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 13 2015, @09:06AM (#169599)

    me too.

    how many tesla is it? TFA doesnt say.

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  • (Score: 2) by fleg on Monday April 13 2015, @09:14AM

    by fleg (128) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 13 2015, @09:14AM (#169605)

    woops, sorry the links *you* posted do mention the tesla values.

    this isnt my field but i wouldnt have thought 13T was enough to lift an aircraft carrier?

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday April 13 2015, @09:37AM

      by GreatAuntAnesthesia (3275) on Monday April 13 2015, @09:37AM (#169610) Journal

      Lift it *out of the water* - in other words, it isn't strong enough to lift a "dry" carrier, but one in water weighs a lot less, because the water is supporting it. At best the magnet would probably be able to get the bottom of the boat to the water's surface, and no further.

      It sounds awesome and I want to see it done.Fuck Fusion!

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Monday April 13 2015, @10:47AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 13 2015, @10:47AM (#169634) Journal

      this isnt my field but i wouldnt have thought 13T was enough to lift an aircraft carrier?

      Tesla is a unit of magnetic flux density - that is, per unit of surface.
      If you could maintain the same flux density and increase the area, even a 1T magfield would be enough to lift the aircraft carrier.
      The most intense continuous magnetic field produced by an electromagnet is 45 T [nationalmaglab.org] - inside a bore 32 mm in diameter.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Monday April 13 2015, @01:47PM

        by VLM (445) on Monday April 13 2015, @01:47PM (#169706)

        and increase the area

        Large structures are wimpy unless specifically designed to handle point loads, so pulling on any part of an aircraft carrier hard enough to lift it would undoubtedly merely break a part off.

      • (Score: 2) by fleg on Tuesday April 14 2015, @01:58AM

        by fleg (128) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday April 14 2015, @01:58AM (#170152)

        ah i see. thanks for the info!