Talk-Polywell.org

Expanding on the calculation for craft and propellant KE when the hall effect thruster is used to decelerate. KE0 = 0.5*v0^2*1kg KEc1 = 0.5*(v0-1m/s)^2*(1kg-40mg) KEp1 = 0.5*(v0+2.7e4m/s)^2*40mg KE1 = KEc1 + KEp1 v0 of 1e4 m/s => delta-KE of 1.5381e4 J v0 of 2e4 m/s => delta-KE of 1.6181e4 J v0 of 4...

OK, here's some calculations. I dug up the datasheet for Busek high-power hall effect engines: Busek BHT-20k Hall Effect Thruster Discharge Input Power: 20kW Discharge Voltage: 500V Discharge Current: 40.5A Propellant Mass Flowrate: 40.0 mg/sec Thrust: 1.08N Specific Impulse: 2750 sec Propulsive Eff...

The 228 probably isn't a typo - the actual error seems to be 'Self sustaining mode operating time: 118 hours'. This appears to be the amount of time that the power was applied, instead, so the 228 h is the self-sustain time, the 118h is the 'heating' time. Total: 336h of the test. 278.4kWh / 118h = ...

I actually find these threads quite interesting. I skip over Joseph's posts, and read the replies - I find them quite educational. I do wonder, though, are we talking about somewhat different concepts of Beta? When we speak of Beta=1 in a polywell, what is being confined to that level - just the ele...

Rolls of boron wire. Each atom makes 6 electrons move at something like 1.3 million volts. Work the energy per ton out from there, but it is a bunch. 8.7 MeV per B11 consumed. 8.7 MeV * (6.022e23) / 11 in kWh => 21.2 kWh per gram of B11. So a 100MW (fusion output) plant would require about 5kg of B...

I did a bit of digging around, and this appears to be a presentation for an upcoming conference: NETS 2012 (Nuclear and Emerging Technology for Space). Conference website: http://anstd.ans.org/NETS2012/NETS2012Home.html On the expected format for papers: "The papers for NETS 2012 are essentially ext...

http://aether.lbl.gov/www/tour/elements/stellar/stellar_a.html As the fusion process continues, the concentration of Fe increases in the core of the star, the core contracts, and the temperature increases again. When the temperature reaches a point where Fe can undergo nuclear reactions, the result...

Solar fusion reaction, from <http://library.thinkquest.org/3471/fusion.html> 4H1 + 2e => He4 + (gammas+neutrinos) delta-E = [(4)(1.007825u) - 4.002603u][931 MeV/u] = 26.7 MeV Apply the same math to the Hydrogen-Nickel reaction: (masses from Wiki, feel free to provide alternate numbers if you have a ...

For anyone that was curious about this, nextbigfuture found John J. Chapman's full paper: http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/09/advanced-fusion-reactors-for-space.html Still looks like it's mostly theoretical work, pointing out the potential without actually trying to build anything in the lab. Yet. The ...

There's a 1998 overview linked from the Wikipedia page on muon catalyzed fusion that explains the 4-6GeV figure a bit better. This is not the value for any current facility, but the best theoretical case that various researchers had come up with. Most seem to involve accelerating deuterium or tritiu...

I think a lower bound on muon production in the 400MeV range seems reasonable. Reasonable but impossible. I do not think that word means what you think it means. Below 140MeV is impossible. Below 400MeV would require interesting physics and/or impressive engineering, but isn't impossible. Unlikely,...

I think a lower bound on muon production in the 400MeV range seems reasonable. However, you have to look at the whole Deuterium cycle, not just a single D-D event. See http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nucene/fusion.html#c4 Basically, D-D produces He3 or Tritium (and a spare n or H) with lo...

If Ni62 and Ni64 have much higher reaction probability than other isotopes, then enriching for them (even modestly - say 3x their natural abundance) should produce a proportional increase in the reaction rate for a given amount of nickel in the reactor. Or just use three times as much abundant nick...

ONLY NI62 and NI64 'react'! We should probably stick to what Rossi is claiming, no? He is claiming that only NI62 and NI64 react. He is claiming proton capture that transmutes to Cu63 and Cu65. He is claiming that only the Nickel picks up a proton. Stable copper does not. At some other time, he cla...

I've done a little digging about to see if I could find more background material on this concept. First, there's at least one company selling 75MHz+ pulse rate chirped pulse amplification lasers. Calmar Laser's Mendocino product has a 10-100MHz repetition rate. It's a low-power laser but seems to at...