Lockheed Martin skunkworks compact fusion reactor

[Neuro]

http://m.aviationweek.com/technology/skunk-works-reveals-compact-fusion-reactor-details

Great news if they can get past the technological hurdles. It looks promising...

[crimethink]

Another hot-fusion device. It's definitely promising compared to the giant reactors, like Tokamak, of the past. The trouble is achieving and sustaining the extreme temperatures required, same as the core of the Sun or a nuclear weapon explosion.

I'm still hoping for low-temperature ("cold"), catalyzed fusion.

Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television (the device, not the propaganda), created a device called a Fusor, and improved by Robert Hirsch, but it never went anywhere:

https://www.google.com/patents/US3386883

Some do-it-yourself types build them at home, but I'm not sure if they've been completely successful with continued operation.


Farnsworth-Hirsch device in "Star Mode":

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Fusor_running.jpg/330px-Fusor_running.jpg

[steyr_m]

I'm willing to bet Rossi's invention is better...

[Serpo]

While there are oil companies...............
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAYhNHhxN0A

[crimethink]

While there are oil companies...............
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAYhNHhxN0A

Exactly. That is why the Farnsworth device simply disappeared in the 1960s, except to "eccentric" types like us. Had research been continued with adequate funding, we'd all have fusion by now.

[Cebu_4_2]

And water powered cars that get more than 20mpg.

[SWRichmond]

The physics problem which has to be solved by practical fusion reactors is "density confinement". To get Deuterium and Tritium nuclei to fuse, you have to strip away the electrons and then get the nuclei to hit each other REALLY REALLY HARD. This is done by heating the fuel to very high temperatures, into a state called plasma, which is higher than materials can withstand. The plasma is contained within a magnetic field.

The reason for the toroidal tokamak design is because it is easiest to create a toroidal magnetic field which doesn't leak, as leakage from one region of the torus merely leaks axially into the next region of the torus. it is easy to create a strong magnetic field, but as any grade school child used to know, magnetic lines open up as they move away from their source.

This design looks like they are trying to pinch off the ends to prevent leakage out the ends. I wish them luck!

[Neuro]

And water powered cars that get more than 20mpg.
If it's water it could be 0.02 mpg and it wouldn't be a problem really, you just need a really big tank! :)