Polywell Research in an Academic Enviroment

Robthebob · Post by **Robthebob** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:22 am

Grad school seems very far away, but I already know what direction of physics I want to pursuit. Probably some form of plasma spec in order to help this whole polywell mess, if you guys havent gotten it figured out in 7 years. By the way, is plasma a good specialization to pursuit to be useful for polywell fusion or even just nuclear fusion energy in general?

I was wondering, perhaps polywell just hasnt picked up enough momentum, but I dont think there are any grad students doing polywell for their paper topic. The whole research in academic enviroment, or the lack there of, is very disappointing.

I actually wanna, if by the time I get there, take a class on just the IEC method and polywell. You guys think Navy will let universities do polywell related research if they become interested? Right now, there's no one else doing research on this method other than Dr. N and his team, who's working for the Navy.

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:27 am

You can always go into semi-conductors if fusion doesn't work out.

TallDave · Post by **TallDave** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:42 pm

IIRC, a university or two were talking about buying WB-7s for their own research a while back. Don't know if anything came of it.

Learning about Maxwellian plasmas probably won't help much. Right now, the Navy seems to be keeping a lid on Polywell, but there are fusor programs running in a few places.

It's a long shot, but if Polywell does work out you may be perfectly positioned for the emergence of a trillion-dollar market.

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 3:13 am

MIT and plasma thrusters:

http://powerelectronics.com/news/mit-de ... cket-0310/

I also did this as a topic.

Robthebob · Post by **Robthebob** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 12:37 pm

so what am I supposed to specialized in to help out?

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:00 pm

Robthebob wrote:so what am I supposed to specialized in to help out?

Efficient multi-stage cryo cooling. Useful in SO many ways.

Betruger · Post by **Betruger** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:08 pm

Hey may want to hear some specific examples. Or as many as you can give, if he's info hungry as he should be..

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 3:44 pm

Betruger wrote:Hey may want to hear some specific examples. Or as many as you can give, if he's info hungry as he should be..

Pretty much the entire world is eagerly awaiting the use of superconductors for many common current tasks. Not happening for lack of efficient cryogenics. Think..

Power lines.
Large generating and electro-motive applications.
Medical and scientific imaging.
Plasma related space propulsion.
IEC and even ITER and LHC...
The list is almost endless.

Oh to be a young student again!

Robthebob · Post by **Robthebob** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:53 pm

man, I'm not very interested in temperture control, I wanna do something that's directly related to nuclear fusion....

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:47 pm

Rob,

I was contacted thru my U tube account a ways back by someone who claimed they were a Chinese Physics student, and led me to believe they were in college working on a polywell, or starting the process

Nuclear Fusion will give us the solar system, one might do well to choose.... ah ... oh ... may be ... plasma research? >/sarcasm<

I've seen a trend, high school kids build fusors, then go to college and build bigger and better fusors. This kid Andrew Seltzman built a fusor, got into Georgia Tech, built another fusor, transferred to U of Wis @ Madson. Upgrades include a flouro cooled inner fusor grid, and an Ion gun.

Someday one of these "kids" is going to build a college fusor that leads to that college building a polywell. And all that really has to happen would be for a "kid" to get private funding to the tune of 2-3 million, based on that students prior record of fusor building, and the college willing to expand their physics program.

And if in , lets say......3 yrs...... Dr Nebel hits net power with a crude WB-100, the number of colleges considering a move of this sort will go up considerably.

If some other form of fusion ends up panning out, you are still covered.... no?

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:27 pm

Robthebob wrote:man, I'm not very interested in temperture control, I wanna do something that's directly related to nuclear fusion....

Check out the LONG discussion on MaGrid Optimization in the Design Forum to see how much temperature control is related to fusion power.

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:31 pm

Roger wrote: Someday one of these "kids" is going to build a college fusor that leads to that college building a polywell.

Do a search on Peninsula College and their fusor. I am working with the Professor there regarding building a Polywell. I've gotten agreement from DrN that they can test it in EMC2's chamber. Power supply is another issue.

Robthebob · Post by **Robthebob** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:21 pm

Roger,

First thank you for your response, so you're saying plasma? Cus I've really been confused about what I should do. I just wanna know what path to take. My professor is actually in dusty plasma, Ed Thomas, and well, Auburn has some nice plasma stuff going, so we will see what happens.

Okay, last thing, I would love, love, LOVE to build a fusor. I dont even know where to start, cus well, I dont know enough about physics or engineering to actually build one without a preplanned design. So I'm gussing, I wanna get a preplanned design. Better yet, if I can get my hands on that paper Dr. B said was on the internet, I will proceed to bang my head on a table for a couple of months and build a piece of shit.

-Robert

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:51 pm

Robthebob,

Dr. B's expertise was in heat transfer and fluid flow. You can't imagine how even a beginner's understanding of that can help with the project.

You are looking for a path. There is no path. There is only where you want to go and preparation to get there.

There are very very few openings. Currently. So you are preparing for a position that does nor exist with only a vague understanding of the possible requirements. Take any chance you can to move in the direction you desire. Even if the move does not seem to be a straight line. You never know what will be critical.

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 8:04 pm

Some links:

http://fusor.net/newbie/files/Ligon-QED-IE.pdf

http://fusor.net/files/EMC2_FusionToPost.pdf

http://fusor.net/images/fusor_schematic.jpg

http://fusor.net/newbie/files/FUSORTIP.DOC

http://fusor.net/newbie/files/FUSORREF.DOC

http://fusor.net/