Scientists plan to ignite tiny man-made star

[IndianaGreen]

Scientists plan to ignite tiny man-made star

It is science’s star experiment: an attempt to create an artificial sun on earth — and provide an answer to the world’s impending energy shortage.

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:50PM GMT 27 Dec 2008

While it has seemed an impossible goal for nearly 100 years, scientists now believe that they are on brink of cracking one of the biggest problems in physics by harnessing the power of nuclear fusion, the reaction that burns at the heart of the sun.

In the spring, a team will begin attempts to ignite a tiny man-made star inside a laboratory and trigger a thermonuclear reaction.

Its goal is to generate temperatures of more than 100 million degrees Celsius and pressures billions of times higher than those found anywhere else on earth, from a speck of fuel little bigger than a pinhead. If successful, the experiment will mark the first step towards building a practical nuclear fusion power station and a source of almost limitless energy.

At a time when fossil fuel supplies are dwindling and fears about global warming are forcing governments to seek clean energy sources, fusion could provide the answer. Hydrogen, the fuel needed for fusion reactions, is among the most abundant in the universe. Building work on the £1.2 billion nuclear fusion experiment is due to be completed in spring.

Scientists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, nestled among the wine-producing vineyards of central California, will use a laser that concentrates 1,000 times the electric generating power of the United States into a billionth of a second.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3981697/Scientists-plan-to-ignite-tiny-man-made-star.html

[Uben]

1. Don't know about you.............

.....but I'd kinda like it if they would do this in space!

Accidents happen!

[drm604]

4. I"m not sure what kind of accident you're imagining,

but there's only so much energy available in the tiny amount of hydrogen they're working with. It's not like they could produce a nuclear explosion equivalent to a nuclear weapon.

I doubt that we have the know how or the resources to build and operate a facility like this in space, and there's no reason to do so.

[Johonny]

23. If the person saw the size of the facility needed

to do this, he would realize how stupid doing it in space sounds. Frankly I'd be amazed they ever get more than one shot out of this place.

[drm604]

24. Interesting statement.

I'm not very knowledgeable about this, why do you feel that they probably won't get more than one shot out of it?

[drm604]

2. I didn't realize that anyone was putting major resources into inertial confinement any more.

This sounds promising.

[Tesha]

26. Call me a cynic but I think we keep funding ICF because it produces all sorts of good data

that's useful to the people building thermonuclear weapons.

Tesha

[opihimoimoi]

3. the last 3 minutes of 1812 with cannon....how exciting

:toast:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlYXpBLPwOI

[Poll_Blind]

5. Screw the experiment- where can I get a t-shirt with "National Ignition Facility" and logo on it?!?!

That sounds slick!

PB

[salvorhardin]

7. You'd think they'd have a cooler logo

Sadly not though.

[Poll_Blind]

8. Looks like the F needs to shave its pits. I was genuinely hoping for...

...maybe something like a big mushroom cloud out of which dragon-mounted scientists in white lab coats (and maybe holding lances or microscopes or lances with microscopes attached) flew and the closest dragon-riding scientist has a text-bubble with something like "You're next, mother-fuck-fucker!"

That would be awesome. Especially if the female dragon-riding scientists were topless. How come they never do that kinda shit? Someone like Frazetta would probably do it for free, in oil.

Oh god, I'm going to hit the Post Message on this one- I can feel the foreboding, like I'm headed into a seizure....

PB

[katusha]

9. BRAVO!!

I usually post only a couple of times a year but this line just drew me out to say

bravo to you dear poster, bravo!




"Oh god, I'm going to hit the Post Message on this one- I can feel the foreboding, like I'm headed into a seizure...."

[Poll_Blind]

17. 8^) t/y!

PB

[trotsky]

11. LMAO

Demand for shirts with that kind of logo would be off the charts. They'd quadruple their funding - and be able to blow more shit up!

You, sir, are brilliant. You've found the solution for funding science.

[moggie]

13. And I think you've hit on a better name

"National Ignition Facility" is such a dull name. The "Institute for Blowing Shit Up" would catch the public imagination far better.

[Indenturedebtor]

20. LOL true that. But only if they mention "Electrolytes" in there somewhere

Electrolytes are what fusion craves.

[Posteritatis]

14. We need an artist, STAT. (nt)

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. LOL

[DBoon]

6. they are setting fire to Bristol Palin's baby?

Igniting a tiny man-made star?

[moggie]

10. Practical fusion is just around the corner!

Just like it's been for as far back as I can remember.

[drm604]

12. I does seem to be a very large corner, doesn't it? n/t

[Orrex]

16. Paging Dr. Octavius!

Have we learned nothing from Spiderman II?

[SlicerDicer-]

18. I thought the same thing!

Where are those damn arms!

[Orrex]

19. 'The power of the Sun in the palm of my hand.'

One complaint about the film's end, though. Here's how the last exchange between Spidey and Ock went, more or less:

SPIDEY: We need to shut down this enormous fireball. How can we shut down an enormous fireball?

OCK: There's no way to shut down an enormous fireball. (Pause) Wait! We can throw it in the river!

Uh... You need to be a post-doc in nuclear physics to figure that one out? Hell, my sleeve caught on fire once, and the first thing I thought of was "put it in water."


Maybe I should sign up for a set of those arms...

[Indenturedebtor]

21. Myess because the best thing to do in a run away nuclear reaction is

to throw water on it!

Or is it salt? I thought baking soda... i'm confused :(

[Orrex]

22. I thought you're supposed to smother it with a blanket

Or stop, drop, and roll!



Well, I guess my point is this: you'd think that the guy who made the darned thing would have a sense of its composition and of what would and wouldn't snuff it in case of emergency.

And then, right on the bank of the river, it doesn't immediately occur to him that the river would do the trick, but then it occurs to him in a flash a moment later? If that's the way he usually tests his hypotheses, I'm going to keep my precious tritium for myself, thanks!

[Indenturedebtor]

25. LOL that too n/t

[Phoonzang]

27. Good...they need to hurry the hell up. nt