[Swiftwater Gazette] Rik did Ron reply to you with his answer to 'Rik's question ...'

[Ed Kroposki]

Rik,

I received this reply to your question from Ron.  Did he copy you in?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ronald Lipton" <ronald.lipton at gmail.com>
To: "Ed Kroposki" <ekroposki at charter.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 10:05 AM
Subject: Re: Rik's question ...


> NIF has a long way to go.  The problem is akin to trying to
> compress a basketball to the size of a golf ball using 50 fire
> hoses surrounding the ball. The beams have to be exquisitely
> controlled to achieve the required symmetry or the pellet just
> gets kicked away.  NIF has demonstrated some level of
> symmetric compression, but are far away from demonstrating fusion,
> and even farther from demonstrating "break-even", where energy
> out equals energy in.  The technique is interesting, but getting the
> energy out to be equal to the energy in will also require very high
> efficiency in the lasers and complex engineering of the reaction
> chamber.  It is a new facility, so it will be a while before
> it can be labeled a success.
>
> In terms of stopping the process. It is really no problem in any type
> of fusion reactor.  In a laser fusion system you just turn off the
> laser pulsing switch.  In a plasma fusion reactor there has to be
> constant feedback control to keep the plasma away from the walls.
> Any instability will quickly quench the plasma.  The real problem
> is protecting the walls to insure that they are not damaged by
> poorly confined plasmas.  The plasmas are too low density and unstable
> to ignite the surroundings.  The energy dissipates very quickly and
> the density and temperature thresholds for fusing atmospheric gas
> is much higher than the Deuterium Tritium mixture used for fusion.
>
> Ron
>
>
>
> Ed Kroposki wrote:
>> Rik asked,
>> Ed,
>>
>> Just a thought I've had in the past regarding the fusion process. Suppose
>> somebody does get a "fuel" to light off and begin fusing. What if ....
>> once
>> it begins, they can't control it? Since it's never been done, how do they
>> know they can stop it, once started?
>>
>> Do we then live on the (or a) Sun? Well, not for long, obviously.
>>
>> Rik
>>
>> Rik,
>>
>> I am not the physicist.  Ron Lipton is and works and is knowledgeable
>> in this area.
>> That is why I addressed a copy to him.
>>
>> I asked him to respond on this forum.  However, his also an Obama
>> acolyte and for that reason might not respond to the question on this
>> forum.
>>
>> We shall see...
>>
>> Ed K
>>
>>
>