48 seconds. I predict a glut of helium. balloons for everyone

      • NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de
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        In case the reference is lost, there’s a famous Muslim proverb: if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain. A flipped version of this proverb has somehow also become commonly known, perhaps surpassing the correct version (in my culture at least): if Muhammad won’t go to the mountain, then the mountain will come to Muhammad.

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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      People talk about Icarus flying too close to the sun. Motherfuckers are recreating it in labs

      This!

      That’s definitely some next-gen level magic being scienced/engineered.

    • Plopp@lemmy.world
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      I just want to know what kind of thermometer they put into the plasma to measure the temperature. It must have been made of ice or something to not burn up.

      • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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        7 months ago

        They usually measure extreme high temperatures differently, not with thermometers based on heat expansion of materials. They measure heat radiated, not conducted.

        In plain English, they look at it with a heat camera, like you see on TV they patrol borders with.

  • assembly@lemmy.world
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    48 seconds at those temperatures is no joke, that is pretty amazing. I didn’t see the article elaborate on what the current limiting factors are for pushing beyond 48 seconds. Like I wonder if it’s a hard wall, a new engineering challenge, a tweak needed, etc. this is the reactor that set the last record so they are doing something really right.

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      (The article touches on this bit a little) I was watching something about fusion the other day and it seems that it is super tricky to keep the magnetic field balanced in a way that keeps the plasma in a proper toroid. Not only does it need to keep the correct strength, it has to fight against random turbulence. This is critical to start the reaction, but also to maintain it.

      Also, they gave some other physical limitations in the article as well:

      To extend their plasma’s burning time from the previous record-breaking run, the scientists tweaked aspects of their reactor’s design, including replacing carbon with tungsten to improve the efficiency of the tokamak’s “divertors,” which extract heat and ash from the reactor.

      Basically, it’s the container that has limitations as containing a pseudo-sun probably isn’t easy.

      • Nastybutler@lemmy.world
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        According to another commenter the heat generated is 7 times that of the core of the sun. Considering we use the sun in sci fi to destroy anything that can’t be destroyed by other means, controlling that level of heat seems like a real challenge

        • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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          Yeah. Actually using that heat is the next challenge, I suppose. If I am not mistaken (and I am often mistaken), they are not actually using the reaction to power the reactor yet.

          It’s all math, basically. If they measure more energy coming out than they put in, it’s considered a win.

          • Dojan@lemmy.world
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            How would they use it to power a reactor? Is it like a regular nuclear reactor where you essentially boil water to power a steam turbine?

            I swear a part of my inner child died the day I found out that nuclear reactors are essentially big kettles.

            • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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              It’s likely going to create steam, just like a reactor today. It is a very effective way to turn a turbine for a generator, after all. All the bits that actually start and maintain the reaction need fuck tons of electricity, so the reaction can literally power itself when attached to a generator.

              While there are a ton of formulas for converting energy from heat, to steam, to mechanical energy and then into electricity, it’s all basically the same: more power out than you put in is a good reaction.

              Almost forgot, water is dual function. It cools the equipment and it acts as an energy transport. I believe ammonia is more efficient in some circumstances, but water is better for obvious reasons.

              • Dojan@lemmy.world
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                Yeah, I mean it makes sense. My inner child wants there to be some sort of magic that splits the atomic nucleus (or in the case of fusion… well you know) and harnesses the energy through some sort of fancy magical-to-us-commonfolk process.

                Kettles are great, but not whimsical or fantastic.

                • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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                  How the heat is generated is still wicked-cool and is basically magic. Think about it this way: We are holding a toroid shaped micro-sun in place with magnets. Those magnets need to be adjusted hundreds of times a second to keep everything in its place. Sure, it just boils water, but how it boils water is where the real magic is.

                  We are building atoms by taking control of the core of a star.

    • hydroptic@sopuli.xyz
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      Like it has been for the past 30 years (which, I assume, was the joke here.)

      If fusion research was funded adequately we’d probably have it by now, but I don’t know if it’s the energy lobby or what that means that it’s chronically underfunded. An actually working fusion reactor design would bring about such an upheaval in the energy markets that I wouldn’t be surprised if plutocrats had a hand in making sure the research receives orders of magnitude less money than it should.

      • malloc@lemmy.world
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        Existing energy conglomerates (ie, oil and gas) probably send their army of lobbyists around the world to spread FUD about fusion. Thus minimal funding. 🪦

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        Maybe. We all (here) wish fusion power was funded better and understand how useful it could be for humanity if we can make it happen, but ….

        • yesterday I read about the Stellerator using 3D printed parts
        • in this thread, someone commented on using ai to drive containment
        • I’m sure teams must be using the latest materials.

        It’s quite possible that we would have always needed the rest of the world to catch up

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      Breakthroughs will bring in investment and then things can accelerate if it ends up viable.

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      It’s not limitless, you still need fuel. Especially tritium doesn’t really occur naturally because of its extremely short half-life, current plans for ITER involve breeding tritium from lithium in the fusion reactor. The closest to limitless power we have is PV.

      • TheWoozy@lemmy.world
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        A reactor that produces enough of its own fuel… It’s starting to sound like a perpetual motion machine.

      • Chee_Koala@lemmy.world
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        The advancements in magnetic field manipulation will be of great value to the ferrite-infused prostate medicine field! Also: better selfie camera’s!

  • Neato@ttrpg.network
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    Unfortunately the amount of helium made in fusion is so small as to be useless for anything humans need. Fusion is just that efficient.

      • Neato@ttrpg.network
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        We actually get all of our helium from mining, trapped gas. And we’re running out of the easy to reach stuff. So yes, no more chipmunk voices.

        But they’re similar gasses that can do the same thing and even ones that make your voice deeper.

          • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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            Always careful with gasses. You basically replace a certain amount of capacity in your lungs with them, so you can very much suffocate yourself if you overdo it.

    • n3m37h@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      They use orders of magnitude more liquid helium to cool the magnets used to stabalize fusion than they would ever make.

  • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    sick. cool. So uh. How long until power generation happens now?

    Ah who am i kidding, it’ll be at least a decade, probably more like two. Three including manufacturing and building all the plants.

  • JATth@lemmy.world
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    Fusion triple product: the duration the thing works x inverse of how close you are to melting the reactor vessel x how large is the reactor vessel

  • fidodo@lemmy.world
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    I’d like to know more. How do you actually harness the energy produced by temperatures that high? Is the end goal to figure out how to sustain the reaction at lower temperatures or do we actually have ways to generate electricity from those temperatures without losing most of it to waste?

  • n3m37h@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    I’ll be excited if/when they can harness the power. PS the world is running out of liquid helium that is used to cool the magnets