| Title | Polywell Submitted arXiv Preprint June 2014 | |
| Date | Saturday October 11 2014, @11:25AM | |
| Author | martyb | |
| Topic | ||
| from the more-better-power? dept. | ||
It had been awhile since I looked around for serious polywell news and my searches this week yielded some interesting results that may have eluded people's notice here. Was this a moment in time when I was ignoring SN or the "Other Site"? I can't find evidence of that just now. On to the scoop:
EMC2 submitted a preprint to arXiv with some results around confinement this summer. Did anyone notice?
After getting extended funding two years ago, the folks at Energy Mass Conversion Corporation have continued their work, and this last summer submitted their preprint — not immediately impressive since they focus on proving aspects of the WhiffleBall, and not on producing fusions per sé. The resulting discussion at talk-polywell ended shortly thereafter and currently runs to 137 posts. The first few dozen were more light than heat — and not very much of that beyond the understandable sparklers of celebration that something was emerging. They eventually get more content rich and I haven't plumbed everything that's said — nor indeed the paper itself.
More interesting to me were the comments on this news story, especially those by the chap who says "'not implausible' is not the same as plausible". Also of interest is a stack of slides appealing to politicians (US politicians — not much good to me in the True North) for funding (remember Dr. Bussard's "rice bowls"?), part of a larger collection that is linked to from the last one in that stack.
[Update]
For those who may not already be familiar, Wikipedia explains:
The polywell is a type of nuclear fusion reactor that uses an electric field to heat ions to fusion conditions. It is closely related to the magnetic mirror, the fusor, the biconic cusp and the high beta fusion reactor. A set of electromagnets generates a magnetic field which traps electrons. This creates a negative voltage, which attracts positive ions. As the ions accelerate towards the negative center, their kinetic energy rises. If the ions collide in the center, they can fuse.
The polywell is one of many devices that use an electric field to heat ions to fusion conditions.[1] This branch of fusion research is known as inertial electrostatic confinement. The polywell was developed by Robert Bussard, as an improvement over the fusor. His company, EMC2, Inc., developed the initial devices for the U.S. Navy.
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printed from SoylentNews, Polywell Submitted arXiv Preprint June 2014 on 2024-05-04 20:07:07