Can someone ELI5 why this is significant over previous fusion experiments?
US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved
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Re: US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved
#12Can someone ELI5 why this is significant over previous fusion experiments?
Previous Fusion experiments, even though we could get Fusion reactions to occur, required more energy to start and sustain the reaction than was generated from it. For the first time, more was generated from the reaction than put in.
Re: US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved
#13I don't know about everyone else, but I'm taking this particular moment just to swell with pride and excitement for this achievement by science and forget about the details of how much more needs to be done to create the first power plant. I'm remembering when I first learned about fusion energy development, how distant and unfeasible it seemed, and regardless of how long the road ahead still is it's incredible how f…
What about this: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2333346-ignition-confir... Allegedly ignition was achieved a year ago. How is this different?
Because now it’s reproducible, controllable and consistently net positive in terms of energy output.
It’s not a fluke anymore and I assume the engineering behind this is now understood well enough to develop it further and scale it up.
Fusion for the most part isn’t a physics problem it’s an engineering problem the difficulty was always in how to implement it in the real world rather than in math at ideal white paper conditions.
Re: US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved
#14Am I reading it correctly that they achieved a ~53% output of energy over input?
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Re: US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved
#15It's a big deal, it will change the way people live. Hopefully it also help to eliminate wars, the war for the natural resources and land.
Maybe. Fusion energy might be more expensive than current forms or has undesirable yet to be known side effects. People said the same of nuclear and here we are.
And had we continued to develop and improve upon fission we'd probably be in a better place.
Re: US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved
#16Re: US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved
#17"...a game-changer for efforts to achieve President Biden’s goal of a net-zero carbon economy".
That's the best outcome you can think of as a result of possible free energy?
Re: US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved
#18I’d love to hear the pros and cons of fusion vs micro molten salt fission reactors.
Re: US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
2.05 MJ in, 3.15 MJ out. That's amazing.
Minus the laser power supply, is it correct?
Press release states: "meaning it produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it."
The 2.05 MJ put into the reaction includes the laser power supply then, it would seem, unless they are bad at press releases. But 2.05 MJ is not a lot of power.
Re: US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved
#20Here's your most exciting paragraph
> LLNL’s experiment surpassed the fusion threshold by delivering 2.05 megajoules (MJ) of energy to the target, resulting in 3.15 MJ of fusion energy output, demonstrating for the first time a most fundamental science basis for inertial fusion energy (IFE). Many advanced science and technology developments are still needed to achieve simple, affordable IFE to power homes and businesses, and DOE is currently restarting a broad-based, coordinated IFE program in the United States. Combined with private-sector investment, there is a lot of momentum to drive rapid progress toward fusion commercialization.
It's fusion Manhattan project time.