Talk-Polywell.org

You know what, I think maybe we've (I've?) misunderstood what he meant by "vertex." Look at the truncated cube, it has the same issue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truncated_cube Maybe he just meant there was an even number of faces around every place that the surface polygons' edges diverged. That ...

Does it matter, though? I thought those losses recirculated along the field lines. If it didn't matter, why did Bussard explicitly mention it in his Google video presentation? Possibly just to make the point that you can't make a closed (nonrecirculating) model of that shape. I seem to recall there...

Here's Ligon's picture of the WB-8 truncated dodec (p24ish): http://www.deanesmay.com/files/Inertial_Electrodynamic_Fusion_Compr[1].ppt Interesting, this looks very different from a regular dodec. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecahedron Aha! Here we go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truncated_dode...

On every pass near the MaGrid the electron gets a "gravity boost" because it is on a different path each time. Counter argument! :D Hrmm, not sure that holds up. It has to be a velocity change relative to something else. A slingshot maneuver around a planet changes a spacecraft's velocity relative ...

One of the major loss mechanisms Bussard claimed was electrons exiting via line cusps. He further said that it was not possible to eliminate these in a cube geometry machine because each vertex has three faces around it, and you don't want two faces to have the same pole. Fair enough, but a dodecah...

Here's what will happen post-Polywell, assuming the order of magnitude savings we've been estimating: People will fall all over themselves to get a piece of the first fat profit margins. Thousands and thousands of IEC fusion plants will be built, all over the world. These will bankrupt the existing ...

One word comes to mind watching this:

ENIAC.

We should temper our optimism.... Dr. Bussard put IEC back on the map, but it is by no means guaranteed soon; I've always said it has a 1 in 3 chance of producing power commercially. That's still about where I stand. I'm saying *don't* tax income... We want to encourage income generation. Taxes dis...

It was nice of Nebel to acknowledge us. Really, though, I just hope this is going somewhere useful.

(You know, the Harvey Keitel line, when Quentin Tarantino's character is astonished how much different the car looks after they clean it out.)

OK, here is Bussard's take on brem, via Ligon (from Simon's post): Objection 3, bremsstrahlung radiation, is a very complex subject. The essence is that high-velocity electrons, at high density, especially in the presence of ions that have a lot of electrical charge on their nuclei, will cause the e...

Roger wrote:Bussard was assistant Dir of the AEC... no ?

Thanks, the actual title does sound better than "executive."

Duh,. electrostatic of course, not electromagnetic. Sheesh. Thanks for catching that, guys.

Last I heard, this was generally ascribed to carpet fiber or clothes fiber and/or Delusional Parasitosis. Some have raised the possibility of Agrobacterium. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellon%27s But the CDC is investigating. Something else we'll learn more about in 2008, sounds like. Centers fo...

Good. I would hit the geopolitical stuff (oil wars) and cut the size in half. Better yet call them. I called last year in an effort to raise funding and couldn't get a rise out of my Cong. Critter. Maybe it is time for another call. Good point, the security issue is taken very seriously. Yeah, Kirk...

Check this out guys, Nebel's comment on the MSNBC story says it's the most complete treatment of IEC fusion gains: http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PHPAEN000007000011004547000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes I love this sentence: Operating regimes with fusion power to io...