Talk-Polywell.org

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http://sam-azar.com/?p=65

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Simon, I'm sorry, this guy is a nutcase. Why do you link to anything of his?

scareduck wrote:Simon, I'm sorry, this guy is a nutcase. Why do you link to anything of his?

I like him personally, given my e-mail dealings with him.

The information has value and is well presented.

He may be mistaken, but I don't think he is a scammer.

Simon, do you think there might be some merit to his approach? I have read some of his website material, but can't judge if there might be something to it. The religious ferfor seems like a red flag, but what do you make of the work itself?

Grant

MSimon wrote:He may be mistaken, but I don't think he is a scammer.

Well, after a certain fashion; see Richard Feynman's speech about Cargo Cult Science; he has apparently not learned how not to fool himself. Enthusiastic he may be, but he also fits the textbook definition of a crank.

Grant Castillou wrote:Simon, do you think there might be some merit to his approach? I have read some of his website material, but can't judge if there might be something to it. The religious ferfor seems like a red flag, but what do you make of the work itself?

Grant

There may be some merit to it. It could be cold fusion + hot fusion.

The experiments are cheap enough. The odds are something interesting will be learned. I doubt if there is net energy there.

Yes. The guy is a crank. So what? At least he has more sense than to be chasing zero (point) energy. Or over unity magnetic field energy.

He seems pretty nuts.

I would guess his "fusion detection" is just arcing.

TallDave wrote:I would guess his "fusion detection" is just arcing.

My first thought exactly.

There's something to be said about the character of the people you keep.

TallDave wrote:He seems pretty nuts.

I would guess his "fusion detection" is just arcing.

I discussed that with him and he claimed his neutron detectors were well shielded.

My guess is that if the BFR experiments show positive results a lot of crazy money will be chasing crazy ideas. Go back and look at the early days of radio.

This guy has two good things:

- He has had an idea ( http://noblefuse.com/video2.htm )

- He has contacted with all the members of the Fusion Energy Science Advisory Committee (FESAC). Has anyone of us done the same? Me not. I think this strategy should be followed by the Polywell community

I agree with MSimon that he deserves an opportunity and also maybe some day all these ideas will get money

jlumartinez wrote:This guy has two good things:

- He has had an idea ( http://noblefuse.com/video2.htm )

Not even a paper in a peer-reviewed journal. MAYBE! IT'S!!! ALL! THE! EXCLAMATION! POINTS! AND! UPPERCASE! LETTERS! that kept him out. The guy is a science crank who's learned some of the jargon and maybe a little math, but he's of the same caliber as Edwin J. Goodwin.

- He has contacted with all the members of the Fusion Energy Science Advisory Committee (FESAC). Has anyone of us done the same? Me not. I think this strategy should be followed by the Polywell community.[/url]

And? Carrying somebody like this in tow is not going to help. Credibility is already strained post-Rider. This guy is one step away from the zero-point-energy goofballs.

It's one thing to attract people like this, and another to call them into the tent. Get too many clowns, and pretty soon you're running a circus.

I agree with MSimon that he deserves an opportunity and also maybe some day all these ideas will get money

Why? What, specifically, has he done that meets the criteria of being deserving of cold, hard, cash?

The idea of generating fusion energy through an arc discharge through heavy water is nuts and should not be tried and would be a complete waste of money.

On the other hand I can think of a modification of his idea that could be interesting.

1)Place the magnet outside an earthed vacuum vessel

2) place an anode collar at a high positive potential around the centre of the looped magnetic field, drop electrons in from the center of the earthed magtic axis, this creates a virtual cathode at the centre.

3) inject ions in from inside the collar and voila! magnetically insulated electrostatic confinement,

The curvature would be good aswell from the point of view of instabilties. I can think of many reasons why this would be simpler to construct than a polywell its a pennig trap in essence.

Now I think about it is seems ridiculous that this was never thought of before. Look at these links:

http://www.lanl.gov/p/pdfs/pr/pr_95_96/penning.pdf

http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1402-4896 ... XxfC2wi7Kg

In all penning traps built to date the solenoid surrounding them has a uniform magnetic field, and they have to go to pains to ensure the electrons focus at the centre, why not make the magnetic field *convex* like in the device this crackpot proposes, that way you could get the magnetic field to do the focusing for you. Another interesting idea would be to inject gas in at the Earthed axes , that way the ions would be attracted straight towards the focus!!!!

I can't believe no one respectable hasn't though of this already!!!!!!

This is just the definition of geniality. Uncover a bright -but hidden- idea is job for geniuses. I have the clear idea that the future of fusion energy just consists in finding the right confinement configuration. This could be done by anyone of us, it is not needed to be Nobel prizes. Just thinking in a different way to the rest of people. This is why I think everyone need an opportunity. If an idea is wrong it could be the seed for a new development. Go on with your project !!

We also talked about this kind of fusion in: viewtopic.php?p=2698

jlumartinez wrote:This is just the definition of geniality. Uncover a bright -but hidden- idea is job for geniuses. I have the clear idea that the future of fusion energy just consists in finding the right confinement configuration. This could be done by anyone of us, it is not needed to be Nobel prizes.

A self-solving problem, as the man (or woman) to figure out how to make contained terrestrial thermonuclear fusion will earn a Nobel prize. I agree that academy has its problems and myopias, but just the same, at some point the author of a theory about how the universe works must grapple with empirical data and convince others in the field that he, and not his competitors, is right. Eric Lerner and his cohorts who declare themselves right and everyone else wrong won't find anything useful because they're doing science as a kind of ego-stroking.

Just thinking in a different way to the rest of people. This is why I think everyone need an opportunity.

Not everyone is equally talented or honest, intellectually or otherwise.

If an idea is wrong it could be the seed for a new development. Go on with your project !!

Would you give away your money to such a man if you actually had a couple million dollars sitting in your bank account you couldn't find a use for?

I discussed that with him and he claimed his neutron detectors were well shielded.

Well, if that's true, it might be worth someone trying to replicate.

But it's going to be hard to get anyone to look at it seriously with all the other handwaving he does.