Levitating magnet could make fusion faster and cheaper
By Casey Johnston | Last updated January 28, 2010 9:33 PM
Fusion power has been held up by our inability to get the reaction hot and dense enough to self-sustain, or maintain its own temperature without externally-provided heat. By studying the magnetic fields of planets and other bodies in space, scientists have found a new configuration of magnetic fields that could help concentrate the density of the fuel. The setup uses a levitating magnet to help the plasma to move across magnetic field lines, which maintains its high density, eliminates particle loss, and may even allow for the use of cheaper helium-3 as fuel.
From: dimbulb [#4] 29 Jan 14:18 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#3] 29 Jan 15:53
I'm of the opinion that quantum theory and other aspects of mainstream science have relegated magic to second class "Oh Wow" status.
Let's face it pulling a rabbit out of a hat pretty much pales to insignificance when compared to black holes or electrons that move from one orbit to another without ever actually existing at any point in between.
From: dimbulb [#7] 30 Jan 10:21 To: worsel [#5] 30 Jan 16:16
Just because I'm a bit green doesn't mean I'm jaded. :<
I recently stumbled on a few Youtube videos explaining the current Standard Model of Particle Physics and my mind was officially blown. I proceeded from there to listen to several chemistry and physics lectures offered online by MIT Open Courseware and not having taken a Chemistry or Physics class since the early 60s, I just wasn't prepared. I knew things had changed a lot in those fields but damn everything has changed.
From: dimbulb [#8] 30 Jan 10:52 To: leonsk [#6] 30 Jan 18:51
I can't say I understand that definition but then it was Einstein who said it. So why should I expect to understand it?
The latest thing to blow my mind is the "finding" that there is no such thing as nothing. That even empty vacuum space devoid of all particles and energy is not nothing. That even in that "emptiness" there are subatomic particles popping in and out of existence continuously. And further that this block of "nothing" has mass and lots of it.
Here's an interesting and entertaining hour long lecture by Lawrence Krauss called "A Universe from Nothing" on the subject. (This lecture though purely scientific in nature was given at a convention of atheists so if anyone who is easily offended by a few sacrilegious comments might want to skip it).
The lecture is an hour long but if you have the bandwidth or the time to just download it while doing other stuff, I'd highly recommend it for entertainment and WTF value if nothing else.
It's my opinion that Particle Physics and Cosmology are either on the brink of culture altering discoveries or on the brink of being the laughing stock of generations to come. I just don't know enough math to decide which it is.