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Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

news.bbc.co.uk

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Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#11

Post by arethuza »

GFischer wrote: post #10
arethuza wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Making a fusor looks like a pretty interesting project:

http://brian-mcdermott.com/what_it_takes.htm

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#12

Post by jasongullickson »

Tichy wrote: post #8
pierrefar wrote: post #4

Earlier 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…

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.

The Fusor produces interesting byproducts as well:

" He was absolutely convinced that he had observed the fusion of deuterium into tritium and/or helium 3 in his equipment. "

from: http://itseasyto.com/farnsworth.htm

...it's a good source of neutrons.

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#14

Post by randallsquared »

pierrefar wrote: post #4
arethuza wrote: post #3

Earlier 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…

It's one of those hoax stories that keeps popping up, along with energy from water.

Since Farnsworth Fusors are used commercially for neutron production, I'm sure those using them would be flummoxed to find that said neutrons are generated via hoax. :)

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#16

Post by stcredzero »

pierrefar wrote: post #4
arethuza wrote: post #3

Earlier 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…

I'm not impressed with the BS-checking of the BBC in this case.

I'm not impressed with yours. Producing fusion reactions is just an advanced backyard project. Getting a net energy gain is the hard part. Did you label this as a hoax because it "sounds" like one? Your filter needs refining, as it would seem to suffer from false negatives. (Or false positives, depending on which meaning you're giving to "positive.")

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#17

Post by stcredzero »

phiberoptik wrote: post #15

What's the difference between what this guy is doing and cold fusion? I remember back in the late 80's two scientists claimed to have solved cold fusion. I'm assuming this is a different process?

They're using electric fields to get the ions to collide and fuse. Pons and Fleischman (the cold fusion guys) were trying to get ions to enter a Palladium matrix and collide that way.

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#18

Post by pierrefar »

randallsquared wrote: post #14
pierrefar wrote: post #4

Earlier 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…

It's one of those hoax stories that keeps popping up, along with energy from water. Since Farnsworth Fusors are used commercially for neutron production, I'm sure those using them would be flummoxed to find that said neutrons are generated via hoax. :)

OK, you're right, hoax is the wrong word. Sorry about that.

What irked me is this kind of hyped up story of "little guy in a workshop makes amazingly complex device and look, he's going to beat all these scientists supported by billions of $". It is way too common and, frankly, bad reporting. Neil Calder, quoted in the article, summed it up nicely: we look forward to your ideas, but good luck.

Not once did the BBC mention Farnsworth. It would have been a much better article if they explained a bit what the science was.

Also, go to Fusor.net and read a bit. For example, question 1 on the right hand side column near the top under "welcome newbies" has scientific gems such as "It is God's own way of powering the universe" and uses the word "impossible" (in quotes) often. It's the typical bad science writing that is too common these days, and IMHO the BBC shouldn't be supporting it.

So, not a hoax, but written up like one.

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#19

Post by pierrefar »

stcredzero wrote: post #16
pierrefar wrote: post #4

Earlier 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…

I'm not impressed with the BS-checking of the BBC in this case. I'm not impressed with yours. Producing fusion reactions is just an advanced backyard project. Getting a net energy gain is the hard part. Did you label this as a hoax because it "sounds" like one? Your filter needs refining, as it would seem to suffer from false negatives. (Or false positives, depending on which meaning you're giving to "positive.")

Point taken. See my reply to randallsquared in this thread.

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#20

Post by ScotterC »

And here I was thinking the article would be about a fission reactor! Much tougher DIY project. Heavy water or graphite pile would be your best bet. That way you can use natural uranium from your back yard. The article mentions uranium as if it's hard to get. You can still fission U-238. It's just tougher.
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