4 ms·
I wonder if this has implications for fusion. In fusion, you have trememdous pressure outwards from the containment vessel due to the magnetic field "squishing
by joncrane 6y ago
I wonder if this has implications for fusion. In fusion, you have trememdous pressure outwards from the containment vessel due to the magnetic field "squishing" the plasma to a density that's enough to promote fusion and redirect scattering forces back inward.
Of course to create that magnetic field, you have to have superconductors very close to this superheated plasma. So the first thing to relate to this is there may be less cooling required.
The second thing is, and this is both a stretch AND possible a huge gain, but perhaps the required pressure for the superconduction can be provided by the inherent pressure of the fusion reactor core.
- MayeulC 6y agoThat's an interesting idea. I wonder if that couldn't be used to bootstrap a room-temperature superconductor: cool it down, start a magnetic field, and let the magnetic field reaction compress the material so that you can let it heat back to room temperature. Could an external or room-temperature field also possibly be enough?
- joncrane 6y agoYeah you'd still need a bootstrap to get the reaction going, and therefore generate the pressure. The question is, does this material have two superconduction modes: one at low temperatures and pressures, and another at high temperatures and pressure? The idea would be to create a superconductor with a pressure/temp curve that is amenable to the pressure/temp curve of the starting sequence of a fusion reactor.
- ganzuul 6y agoAnd why can't I find any research on using the magnetocaloric effect to achieve superconductivity? It's an obvious idea to try.