The greatest feat of human engineering ever achieved by man

Consider for a moment the idea what is needed for creating a hot fusion reactor. With a hot fusion reactor gases are turned into plasma which is extremely hot. How hot is extremely hot you might ask. How about hot as 100 million degrees. This is hotter than the center of the sun.

Now imagine for moment what kind of bowl would be needed to hold some hot plasma soup. There is no material on the planet capable of withstanding 100 million degrees. 100 million degrees would vaporized every material on Earth we could use for making our bowl. We need a way to hold our plasma suspended in mid-air so 100 million degree plasma doesn't come in contact with any materials.

It turns out physicists are really smart. I mean really smart. Unless you've been around a super-genius you really have no idea how smart people can be. I have been around some extremely smart people. I worked with a guy who was so freaking smart we mere mortals thought he was an extraterrestrial. I just can't come up with an analogy or metaphor to convey enough meaning by what I have experienced as "smart".

So some really smart physicists set out to design a way to hold hot plasma, material that is 100 million degrees, so that it doesn't touch anything. At first they came up with a design that looked like a donut. But a simple donut had several problems. What was done was computer programs were written to create an optimal design through trial error.

Let this sink in for moment. In order to design the device, it could not be done until computers were used to help come up with a viable solution!

Every part in the a hot fusion reactor is designed from computer modeling. And every part is manufactured to the finest possible precision using computer aided manufacturing.

Magnetic fields are used to hold the hot plasma suspended in mid-air. Everything in a hot fusion reactor has to be perfect to very precise measurements. If the parts are slightly misshaped the magnetic field will be slightly off. This would result in some 100 million degree hot plasma splattering on the walls of our bowl holding the hot plasma. Any splatter would instantly vaporize the walls of our reactor!

So the magnetic field used to contain the plasma has to be perfect to the highest possible precision possible. Many people thought man was simply incapable of making a device engineered to such high precision. Here's where the really smart people come in! It's been done. Here is the story. A truly amazing story of the Wendelstein 7-X Stellerator hot fusion reactor:



And the results have been amazing:

Remarkable fidelity

Stellerator Wiki Page

Published Results

So once you succeed how does it work. Well, it takes 400 MJs of energy to start it but it produces 18000 MJs as output. That's 45x amount of energy from input to output. With this energy you can boil a lot of water to create steam used for turning turbines used to create electricity.

If this doesn't give you hope in humanity then you are not paying attention. It's just mind boggling for such device to exist.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
Unless you've been around a super-genius you really have no idea how smart people can be.

Daily. So I get it.

I'm waiting for the miniaturized Mr. Fusion version for home use.

I like extraterrestrials.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: dfnj2015
Unless you've been around a super-genius you really have no idea how smart people can be.

Daily. So I get it.
I'm waiting for the miniaturized Mr. Fusion version for home use.

When I was in my prime I came up with what I thought was a really good algorithm for solving a very difficult problem. I worked on it over a month. I showed it to the guy who we thought was an ET. He looked at it, thought about for 2 minutes, and then gave me his algorithm which was so amazing it had to have come from God! This guy was truly like Mozart. I still can't believe it to this day what he did in front of me in 2 minutes.

a reply to: dfnj2015


I don't remember having this conversation with you but if you say it happened it happened.

a reply to: dfnj2015

 I was in my prime I came up with what I thought was a really good algorithm for solving a very difficult problem. I worked on it over a month.

Wow, a month, man you were really dedicated

I showed it to the guy who we thought was an ET.

OH nevermind, now all your posts make sense


PS if you're burning water that hot. That quick, there is no steam for energy, but I guess that's not your area of expertise, maybe that's why the alien wasn't impressed

a reply to: dfnj2015

Interesting premise but i'm giving human's most impressive feat of engineering to the Russians for MIR.

Yes, we now have a far more advanced space station but that is precisely why i think MIR was so impressive. Russia, in effect, managed to have a perfectly servicable space station made from rusty corrugated iron and sticky back plastic.

Nothing we ever achieve as a species will be that impressive again.

originally posted by: dfnj2015

I still can't believe it to this day what he did in front of me in 2 minutes.

#MeToo?

You could probably get him into trouble for that.........

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: dfnj2015
I don't remember having this conversation with you but if you say it happened it happened.

Nice!

So in my company they hired a guy who was summa cum laude of his graduating class of MIT. He spent one week working with the guy who we thought was an ET. After one week, this guy from MIT stopped coming to work. He had a mental breakdown. All his life the guy from MIT was the smarted guy in the room. He just could not accept someone was so much smarter than he was. I don't know what happened to the guy. We never saw him again!

a reply to: Flavian

You think sticking a rusty tin can in low earth orbit is more impressive than a cure for polio or developing antibiotics that are literally responsible for saving millions of lives?

a reply to: Flavian

Good one!!! LOL!!!

a reply to: SailorJerry

The way I understand how it works is there are heat exchangers sucking the heat off the walls of the reactor. It's this excess heat that is used to heat water.

Yeah, there are some super smart people. I'm often amazed at the stuff we can engineer and how it is done.

With that said, everyone still gets up and takes a dump in the morning.

I've been around some super smart people and while they could probably talk shop with Stephen Hawkins, they also lack basic common sense and could get hustled on the subway by a 12 year old.

David Adair is an interesting on to listen to on these topics. Child prodigy, started making rockets at 12 years old. Developed his own engine design based on 100 Million degree fusion reaction, used electromagnetic containment. Kinda like making your own black hole.

Has lots of stories working on many different patents. Has a good futuristic vision for development of space.

a reply to: dfnj2015

Some pretty good stuff have been made with rocks, stone, muscle and maybe ox-drawn carts. Need I mention the Great Wall of China and the pyramids? After all, all of this business is relative. Well, until we enclose our sun, then, that will be something. But quantum computers will be dreaming up all sorts of things, designing them and building things as we sit in watch.

'Gives me chills to even thing about it as we gradually lose control of our lives and world. Humankind didn't need technology to survive and anything technological that ever came down the pike always has a credible down side that is always kicked under the rug. Create an algorithm to show us at what point that eventuality will come.

a reply to: dfnj2015

So we are getting more energy out than we are putting in, and the process is sustainable?

Fusion works?

Where is the but?

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: dfnj2015

So we are getting more energy out than we are putting in, and the process is sustainable?

Fusion works?

Where is the but?

No... It's called "theory"

The "but" is that flight started as a theory too.

a reply to: Bluntone22

So it just modeled then?

I knew people were working on a modified computer-generated refined magnetic containment Tokamak design.

Just thought they may have actually built the thing and fired it up.

Thing is flight is rather simplistic compared to the material science involved in producing a working fusion reactor the containment walls of the magnetic bubble being the ticket.

Good luck to them because fusion needs to come about soon if we ever wish to reach level one.

originally posted by: Edumakated
Yeah, there are some super smart people. I'm often amazed at the stuff we can engineer and how it is done.

With that said, everyone still gets up and takes a dump in the morning.

I've been around some super smart people and while they could probably talk shop with Stephen Hawkins, they also lack basic common sense and could get hustled on the subway by a 12 year old.

The saying for those kinds of people is "So smart they're stupid." I used to be best friends with a guy that was really smart like that. He would sleep through advanced Algebra classes and pass with straight A's but didn't have the common sense to change a flat tire or tune a stereo. VERY stupid when it came to common sense.

a reply to: andy06shake

Well first consider we have been using nuclear energy only since the late 50s.
Those powerplants still scare much of the public.

Now imagine telling people a plasma ball hotter than the sun is a few miles from their homes.
A plasma ball capable of melting a city being held in check by a man made magnetic field...