China’s “Artificial Sun” Shatters Fusion Record With Over 17 Minutes of Plasma
China’s “Artificial Sun” Shatters Fusion Record With Over 17 Minutes of Plasma
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Not a word about how much energy went into the process and how much was harvested…
I can create plasma using a candle and a microwave.
Not a word about how much energy went into the process and how much was harvested…
A 17 minute runtime in a Tokamak an incremental step on the path to success. You're in the kitchen looking over the shoulder of the chef saying the steak he's just put in the pan isn't cooked enough yet. He knows, but you can't have the steak on your plate cooked to perfection until he does this current step he's on.
I can create plasma using a candle and a microwave.
In 1964 you could build an honest to goodness fusion reactor copying the Farnsworth Fusor, yet that would never be on a path to a sustained fusion reaction with a net energy gain. The work in the article is.
I love when online commenters who didn't even read the article are smarter than the scientists it's about
I'll be fair and say I admit anything I've said is not somehow more knowledgeable than those actually involved. I call it how I see it, and I know I can be wrong about things.
Producing energy is not the goal of this facility which is why they don't report on it. The useful output is in refining control and heating methods so that when power producing facilities are built, they can operate continuously. On that front, 17 minutes is very impressive. At the speeds at which the particles in a fusion plasma move, that time frame is essentially an eternity.
It's the goal of the technology, though, isn't it?
Yes, it’s a hard problem to solve.