Talk-Polywell.org

OK. I'm on the same page with you. Actually, I believe that Tom Dolan brought this up some time ago. I don't have access to Sci-Search but I believe that Tom wrote a short comment about this topic in response to the Fusion Technology paper (and I think that either Bussard or Krall might have in tur...

First of all, I don't think it is correct to assume that the electrostatic field will collapse into a Debye sheath at the edge. That's an l.t.e. argument applied to a non-l.t.e. plasma. The shape of the potential well depends on the detailed balance of the electrons and the ions in the core. That's...

Radial currents can be forced. It's not supposed to be necessary. I think the comparison to Farnsworth fusors should lead to the assumption that convergence is possible. Until I see data though, it's all just speculation. To zeroth order, convergence should be natural. With a virtual cathode center...

Since you know Langmuir probes, what causes this effect? Attempting to run the probes with a swept bias, you are supposed to get a pair of breakpoints, on either side of zero volts. Someone posted a link to one of Miley's experiments, and it shows the two breaks. Ours showed a break at one polarity...

If the fusor does indeed produce such high pressure how difficult is it for bremstrallung radiation to escape the core. My speculation is that fusion products would be just about the only thing energetic enough that could get out. The mean free path for Bremsstrahlung radiation in any magnetic fusi...

I used to work on theta pinches and FRCs, where a similar question arises. There is a local beta defined as the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic field pressure at some particular location, but also a global beta defined in terms of either a local pressure or a volume averaged pressure, but the r...

My arguments on confinement and recirculation are more subtle and must be discussed further, but the argument I presented in my original post in this thread seems to be very straightforward. Reading through the other threads again I also found this statement in support of my view: There was some hop...

I would also like to comment on the question of simulations vs. experiments. ... Simulations and experiments have to go hand-in-hand. ... Amen. I didn't really mean to put simulations and theory ahead of experiment in any absolute sense. Just keep the balance. Finally, a few words about FRCs. ... A...

...Now if some of you think that the potential payoff compared to the cost is large enough to justify spending a few million dollars, a couple years doing experiments, or countless hours hanging around this forum, then I can understand that. I read your comment to mean that despite the slight and n...

I know they did some Langmuir probe tests, but with a single-tip probe. I have no idea how to get valid data out of a single-tip probe in a magnetic field, and don't trust any of it. Tell me about it. I spent a good chunk of my career trying to figure out how Langmuir probes work in a magnetic fiel...

Wiffleball data: When I first got on board with EMC2 I looked through the files for data from the WB-2 and the WB-3. I found some data sheets, but they weren't very helpful. From discussions I had with Dr. Bussard, I believe that the way he surmised the existence of the wiffleball was to look at th...

If there is no beef, kill yourself a cow! Sounds like there are some freshly ground burgers in the freezer and hopefully a big picnic planned for the end of the summer. Someone invite A.Carlson :) Count me in. I only asked the question because I'm always hungry. Actually finding and killing a cow m...

You guys are making a bunch of "straw man" arguments where you set up a straw man and then knock him down. You need to start thinking about how to solve problems rather than throwing up your hands and saying it can't be done. I see that differently. I'd say we're doing your work for you. The availa...

If there is a region of a significant size, with a significant density of electrons, and the density of ions there is significantly lower, then there will be a big mother electric potential. Sure, but what's significant? Only 1/1000th (1/10,000th if we're being nice to Bussard) will be outside the ...

The only loophole I can see at the moment is that if the ions are cold at the edge (as they are according to polywell othodoxy) In polywell orthodoxy the ions run out of energy before they can reach the edge of the potential well. So except for up-scattering there are no ions reaching the edge of t...