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Didn’t we already know it’s just an engineering problem by virtue of the sun existing?
by jliptzin 4y ago
Didn’t we already know it’s just an engineering problem by virtue of the sun existing?
- woeirua 4y agoNo. Just because the sun exists, does not mean that it is necessarily physically possible to emulate controlled nuclear fusion without an _immense_ gravity well. Ignition in this context is a validation of our understanding of the physics. _Now_ it is just an engineering problem.
- mlyle 4y agoOrdinary hydrogen-hydrogen fusion in the sun only works because the sun is so freakin' huge. It's so unlikely even under the sun's massive gravitational and heat that the power output is about 270W/cubic meter-- compare to human metabolism or an energetic compost pile, which is over 1000W/cubic meter. We actually have to do a whole lot better than the sun, under far less favorable conditions-- to have practical fusion for energy generation on Earth. Inertial confinement fusion ignition (and to a lesser extent, thermonuclear weapons) strongly suggest this is possible.
- jliptzin 4y agoInteresting, didn’t know that!
- idiotsecant 4y agoBoy, the HN pedantry is potent this morning. The fact that black holes exist does not mean that we can spin one up to harvest it's hawking radiation for power. It's not just an engineering problem. That's not what that phrase means.
- smt88 4y agoYour point is well-taken, but please be less of a jerk about it.
- unethical_ban 4y agoSay that to rob74, the starter of this thread, who essentially says "so what if it is the first time we've ever had a net positive fusion reaction, there is still work to be done and I don't like the people working on it" in order to wave it off.