Talk-Polywell.org

Be fun to see what that candle flame does if you could get an 875 gauss magnetic field around it!

ECR at microwave oven frequency in a plasma!

Definitely for an old microwave oven!

The original models, thru WB3 at least, put the emitters on faces instead of corners. I believe they switched to corners because the external electrostatic configuration is a bit better for electron extraction from the emitters. Once the electrons are doing their thing, I think it is pretty much six...

Keegan, I'm no longer sure I'm correct about that assertion you can't see the wiffleball. That was my working assumption when we did video and PMT studies of PXL-1 and WB3. In those, we did not have enough power supply to hold the voltage up during the bright events, and I was finding we had the dee...

Pleased to have you here. Your work is stunning! I'm somewhat familiar with the Focus Fusion effort, and curious if it derives from Paul Koloc's spheromak ideas. I have no opinion one way or another if it can burn p-B11 above unity, but if it is based on inducing spheromaks I can believe it can do a...

Cuddihy, Interesting concept you have there! There are a host of environmental problems which have been brought up which would challenge a space elevator. Atomic oxygen is included, but one might be able to keep a layer of "paint" on the cable, frequently refurbished. Orbital debris is a major hazar...

I know they're funded by Paul Allen. If I recall correctly, Rostaker has gone head to head with the p-B11 nay-sayers, and has cited Dr. Bussard's mathematical approach. Evidently they're on the same page as EMC2 in at least certain respects. Tri-Alpha was more willing to argue that aspect of the the...

Nanos, Dr. Bussard did, in fact, believe there is enough information out that someone else could build Polywells. He was quite sure it would be built, one way or another. My take on it is, they could build them, but based on what Dr. Bussard had published, they would have a lot of work to do to unde...

Dave, A demonstration of diamagnetic levitation was done a decade or so back, in which the cusp of a Bitter magnet was used to levitate a frog. This has nothing to do with the iron in their blood. The effect is similar to superconductor levitation. It only shows up with extremely intense magnetic fi...

Can you levitate one of those in a 20 T Bitter magnet field?

Simon,

I've seen "Bitter" and "Bittern". Somebody with access to a good academic library needs to get some book dust on them to track down the original. I think one must be incorrect, but the internet is not the place to find out which, as the error seems to have propagated.

Honestly, WB1 was made by wiring what amounted to a pair of stainless steel washers on the faces of the magnets. The inner washers had tubes going thru the holes of the magnets. These could be welded in place prior to installation on the magnets. Fitted cases are preferable, but the main concerns ar...

jmc, Several of Dr. Bussard's papers have a pair of figures that show the wiffleball forming by two routes. What you describe sounds familiar. One form of that figure is, in fact, the inspiration for the name of the phenomenon. WB4 had square cross-section coils that were welded where they touched, ...

Ceramic magnets will resist being remagnetized like that. I'd have to look up their manufacturing process. It could be that you have to heat them above their Curie point, apply the desired field, then cool them with the field applied. Ceramics were chosen for that job because: 1. Their Curie point i...

There are several big obstacles to a space elevator other than the basic technology of the cable and power system. I'm not saying it won't work or that the Polywell would not be a key player. Point one is you can't build a space elevator from the ground. You have to build it starting at geosynchrono...

Simon, Carbon nanotubes have an additional interesting property: the tube ends apparently have an extremely low "work function". They'll let loose electrons for the slightest provocation. Evidently they make nice low-temperature electron emitters. Diamond films have similar properties. The technolog...