November 18, 2006

The power of the sun in our hands Could it be that we are on to an endless source of cheap electrical power? Should Google invest? Will the US government take it's collective dick out of the oil industry's arse?

We're allowed to dream, aren't we?

posted by Skrik 17 years ago
  • I would read those links, but my mind keeps getting hung up trying to visualize the term "collective dick" :-\
  • How's it coming on teaching correct use of the apostrophe to all them Engerish studentums?
  • Oh shit.
  • You know, I think the oil industry has it's dick in the government's arse. As a taxpayer I demand a reacharound at the very least!
  • "To initiate the fusion reaction, hydrogen gas must be heated to over 100 million Celsius (10 times hotter than the core of the Sun)" What could possibly go wrong?
  • RalphTheDog: What could possibly go wrong? Very little. Once it fails the reaction stops.
  • I don't have the technical expertise to judge these proposals: however, I do recall that friends who know about physics have been telling me that safe fusion is two to three years away for the last fifteen years: and I suspect physicists have been saying it since about 1950.
  • Wikipedia on fusion reactors. And Another from How Stuff Works.
  • Technical feasibility aside, the project's demands for enormous investment and international cooperation will also require a great deal of political will. Since any payoff will likely occur at a time well past the electable lifespan of most politicians, pursuing non-governmental sources of funding, such as Google, seems a wise course.
  • Okay, random, then we'll put it in your backyard. It'll surely cut down those home heating bills.
  • RalphTheDog sorry gezzer I don't have a yard. Anyway give me a moment to explain myself: What could go wrong? When I say very little, I mean in terms of Chernobyl, or any fission power plant. I.E. Orders of magnitude less, even in the worst case scenario. The designers of fission reactors concern is stopping or slowing the reaction to control it. Fusion has the opposite problem, getting it, and then keeping it, going.
  • Alright, I'll bite: what's a gezzer?
  • But ... that's taking the gezzwork out of it, tick.
  • I think it means 'bloke' or 'dude' or 'mate' or 'friend'. A casual way of saying a deniably sarcastic sir, but with less agression.
  • Gezzundheit!
  • Maybe I'm just a worry-wart, but somehow having an object that is "10 times hotter than the core of the Sun" within walking distance makes me look for my sp-50 sunscreen and a cooler of frosties.
  • As mentioned above, ...safe fusion is two or three years away...; so perhaps this link is timely until two or three years for now...