Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
news.bbc.co.uk
Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
1–10 of 32 posts
Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
#2As a member of the UK public that pays to support the BBC, I want my money back.
Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
#3As a member of the UK public that pays to support the BBC, I want my money back.
Why? Seems like an interesting wee story to me.
Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
#4As a member of the UK public that pays to support the BBC, I want my money back.
Why? Seems like an interesting wee story to me.
It's one of those hoax stories that keeps popping up, along with energy from water.
Try this copy/paste from the story: "He is the 38th independent amateur physicist in the world to achieve nuclear fusion from a homemade reactor, according to community site Fusor.net. Others on the list include a 15-year-old from Michigan...
Some experts are sceptical that all these people are producing fusion reactions, but when he demonstrates his device, Mr Suppes says a bubble meter placed next to the reactor indicates that a fast neutron, a by-product of fusion, has been produced."
I'm not impressed with the BS-checking of the BBC in this case.
Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
#5As a member of the UK public that pays to support the BBC, I want my money back.
Why? Seems like an interesting wee story to me.
Looks like a Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor to me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor
It's a reasonably good neutron source with little chance of generating more power than it consumes to sustain the fusion process.
edit: And the classic NIMBY reaction is priceless.
Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Seems like an interesting wee story to me.
It's one of those hoax stories that keeps popping up, along with energy from water. Try this copy/paste from the story: "He is the 38th independent amateur physicist in the world to achieve nuclear fusion from a homemade reactor, according to community site Fusor.net. Others on the list include a 15-year-old from Michigan... Some experts are sceptical that all these people are producing fusion reactions, but when he…
Well, unless the concept of the Farnsworth Fusor is complete BS (IANAP!) it looks reasonably plausible (if rather unlikely to achieve break even or better).
As long as what they are doing is reasonably safe I would applaud these people for trying, it's not like they are taking billions of dollars from taxpayers to pay for this stuff.
Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Seems like an interesting wee story to me.
Looks like a Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor It's a reasonably good neutron source with little chance of generating more power than it consumes to sustain the fusion process. edit: And the classic NIMBY reaction is priceless.
More specifically this seems to be Bussards version of it:
Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Seems like an interesting wee story to me.
It's one of those hoax stories that keeps popping up, along with energy from water. Try this copy/paste from the story: "He is the 38th independent amateur physicist in the world to achieve nuclear fusion from a homemade reactor, according to community site Fusor.net. Others on the list include a 15-year-old from Michigan... Some experts are sceptical that all these people are producing fusion reactions, but when he…
The problem is that none of these amateur physicists are generating any power. I guess the holy grail is not fusion, but generating power from it.
Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looks like a Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor It's a reasonably good neutron source with little chance of generating more power than it consumes to sustain the fusion process. edit: And the classic NIMBY reaction is priceless.
More specifically this seems to be Bussards version of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell
If that's so, it has a higher chance of being net-positive.
Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's one of those hoax stories that keeps popping up, along with energy from water. Try this copy/paste from the story: "He is the 38th independent amateur physicist in the world to achieve nuclear fusion from a homemade reactor, according to community site Fusor.net. Others on the list include a 15-year-old from Michigan... Some experts are sceptical that all these people are producing fusion reactions, but when he…
Well, unless the concept of the Farnsworth Fusor is complete BS (IANAP!) it looks reasonably plausible (if rather unlikely to achieve break even or better). As long as what they are doing is reasonably safe I would applaud these people for trying, it's not like they are taking billions of dollars from taxpayers to pay for this stuff.
Thanks, I wish the BBC had added that part (though the article does explain that it takes more energy than it generates).
Here's a simple explanation for non-phycisists: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-farnsworth-fusor.htm