Talk-Polywell.org

On the serious side, I can understand extreme curiosity in what is going on, but as for myself, my respect for folks doing their job trumps even extreme curiosity. No sense in crowding or distracting folks doing the work. Just my own point of view.

Best regards

Tom Ligon wrote:The one little tidbit I'll offer is that they no longer leave their garage bay door open. Evidently some people were nosy!

Other than that, I'll say it is really shiny.

And that's all you get from me.

My theory on "shininess" which also covers why the funds are being used so slowly; shortly after a big first group of tests were done, a problem emerged with how the polywell works, not an insurmountable one, but a tough one that could not be found until after the new diagnostics and resolution of WB 8.0 were up and running.

Candidate problems include problems with electron or ion flow coupling to vacuum chamber walls or faraday cage around the polywell.

Another possibility that involves shiny would be electron loss to non-protected surfaces--like the ceramic or teflon coil standoffs previous Polywells have used.

Anyway, changing that kind of stuff, especially if it involved magnetically insulating standoffs, would not be budget busting but would definitely be time consuming.

Other area of speculation: Why did someone (presumably EMC2) invite Tom Ligon to see the current machine? What technical issues require Tom's expertise? Given Tom's bent to writing, perhaps EMC2 is getting ready to publish results in more popular media (e.g. Analog)?

Or maybe Tom got to check it out from his own incentive.. Occam's and all.

There was another poster that posted he saw WB8 from the street, struck up a friendly conversation, and promptly signed an NDA...

I might have to go find his posts again. Perhaps that's what inspired Tom to do the same?

Another possibility is that I've signed a series of NDAs over the years, in order to be allowed to visit. And if I want to in the future I need to honor them.

I did figure I could save you guys the bother of hanging around the garage door, though.

I had a standing invitation, and took advantage of my wife wanting to visit San Diego again to make a visit to the new lab the high point of my vacation. The official excuse was to turn over some of my notes to help decipher some old data dating way back before any of the present crew were on hand. Nothing earth-shaking.

I'll share this much. I'm quite impressed with Dr. Park, and convinced he is approaching the project with the proper scientific mindset ... skeptical and demanding reviewable proof. I would expect you won't get anything speculative out of him. I think the right team is on the job.

Good enough for me, Tom.

Hoping for a great 2012 in fusion!

Yep that sounds very good.

Tom Ligon wrote:I'll share this much. I'm quite impressed with Dr. Park, and convinced he is approaching the project with the proper scientific mindset ... skeptical and demanding reviewable proof. I would expect you won't get anything speculative out of him. I think the right team is on the job.

Sounds good, but I hope you didn't just reveal a trade secret.

Snark warning


I think the right team is on the job.

That my friends I think Is the trade secret.


I ask you, how many times does industry or government manage to put the right people on the job?

Just asking.

I like the shiny part, that means it gives you the same feeling looking at the classic Ford Mustang, a work of art.

Come to think of it, it was kinda like looking at a shiny new sports car.

Tho', if I were talking about a lot of shiny stainless steel, a Delorean might be a better analogy. I mean, all other factors aside, a Delorean in showroom condition was something to see.

For classics and shiny, there's this mint-condition DC-3 in the avionics department hangar at Ohio University that I've admired for hours when visiting. Full polish ... a workhorse that they also show off.

Considering how many DC-3s are still in use, I'm hoping the Polywell sees that kind of service.

I was a student at Ohio U. and remember seeing it. They also have one of the largest Van De Graff accelerators in the world there.

I found the Bockscar to be very shiny when I visited the USAF museum in Dayton. Literally, shiny, even more than a DC-3, but maybe I haven't seen any really shiny DC-3s.

Don't Deloreans come up on Ebay and similar sites every once in a while? I wonder how much restoring one would cost...