|
January 18, 2007
Real Men Do Real Physics
There is a discussion going on at Matt Yglesias' place about the future of the Republicans if they stay the course of the war. Matt thought the odds for the Rs was not good. I made the point that we needed to stay the course in the Middle East as long as our civilization depended on Middle Eastern Oil. I said that with out access to that oil we would Decline and Fall leading to Desolation Row. Then I suggested that an alternative existed, but we would have to develop it. That alternative is Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion. Well I got the usual wise guy comments. Some fool thought I was talking about cold fusion and dismissed what I had to say with derision. Then we get this from commenter Ed who actually visited my blog for at least 3 seconds to get ammunition for the following comment The fusion thing is hillarious. M. Simon's blog has a post about how Muslim's aren't very good at science...it's right next to some Christian Zionist kookery.Well if the Muslims are good at science why do they depend on oil for almost all their income? As to Christian Zionism, I replied: BTW the Christian Zionist piece quotes Democrat Tom Lantos extensively.Well we get one more ignorant guy with an opinion. M, you're talking physics on a political blog, and 'free power' is something that high school physics says cannot happen, so this is hardly the right place to be advocating it.Then some real men came on the scene and asked some real questions. When I spoke to a plasma physicist at Texas A&M about one version of the electromagnetically accellerated boron-proton fusion schemes, he told me that a lot of these results are suggestive but misleading. Sure, you can use simple devices to accelerate particles to speeds that approximate the temperatures needed to fuse borons and protons. But the problem is in equating these particle speeds to temperatures. Particles in a thermal distribution come in lots of different speeds, centered around a peak in the center (which is what we call the temperature). But fusion doesn't happen at the peak--it happens at the tail of the distribution. Non-thermal particles have to reach much higher speeds than what you'd expect to reach the energy needed to ignite fusion.To which my response was: jlw,Then another real man steps up to the plate: I looked over some abstracts and citation lists on Web of Science. Bussard's work is published in aparently reputable journals, and frequently cited, though he is not very prolific. These are not self-citations by co-authors, or circle-jerk citations by collaborators.And my reply was: Njorl,Here is the Monkhorst paper mentioned above. More Monkhorst The University of Florida. Another Monkhorst paper: Science 281. Cross Posted at Power and Control posted by Simon on 01.18.07 at 04:43 PM |
|
January 2007
WORLD-WIDE CALENDAR
Search the Site
E-mail
Classics To Go
Archives
January 2007
December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 May 2002 See more archives here Old (Blogspot) archives
Recent Entries
A Truce Is Offered - Weakness Admitted
Weather or not! Let's Do It on The Cheap Blue Dogs Bark OK, let's talk Turkey about freedom Who Won In Lebanon? Rifling through feminist magazines? De gustibus est disputandum! Spy vs Spy Unfair To Ham Sandwiches
Links
Site Credits
|
|
When Mr. Bussard speaks, do listen as he is the 'man to go to' for fusion. He has had to deal with the #1 toughest community on it in the world since he first started look into it: the Science Fiction community. Let me know where I can buy shares of any venture from him! For he is one of the men who *make a difference* in their realms. Maybe hit up Bill Gates for it... wouldn't that be wonderful, to have a MS-Fusion Pack?
Ok, maybe not, but Bussard is the man here... and unlike in other areas, he has not become a 'fossil' in fusion, like so many others do in other realms of science. He has given much to mankind via his insights and it is worth investing back with him.
Even with it a multi-point and utility system will be necessary for decades as *no* transition can be done quickly. I will trust Bussard on physics more than I will trust environmentalists on economics or industrial strategy.