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Force Field. No, Really

Posted by jamie on from the GeV dept.

tqft points out news of "a working force field, using plasma. Now to scale the sucker up." Here's the Brookhaven press release. I can think of so many uses for this.

4 of 434 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Strange Room Temperature by aug24 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Huh?

    15,000 over 50 is 300.

    300 Kelvin is about 26 Celcius, 80 Fahrenheit.

    Does that help?

    J.

    --
    You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
  2. temperature vs. energy by lingqi · · Score: 5, Informative

    i know you are trying to be funny, but realistically, the amount of energy a high-temperature "thing" contains can be a lot less than you think.

    for example, some ions trapped by the earth's magnetic field goes up to some 14 MILLION kelvins (notice it's hotter than anywhere on, around, or inside the sun). However, as there are maybe one or two such high-temperature particles per cubic centimeter, you will still freeze to death standing (erm, floating) in the middle of it.

    just a pedantic monday morning, i guess. I'll stop now.

    --

    My life in the land of the rising sun.

  3. Temperature != Heat by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 5, Informative
    Remember folks, temperature is not the same thing as heat. 15,000 Kelvin that's a few molecule's thick won't damage your finger. The thermal mass of your finger would snuff it out lickety split.

    Now, the high voltage shock might give you pause before touching it again though...

    --
    "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
    --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
  4. w0000000T! I worked on this project........ by aimless · · Score: 5, Informative

    And it IS Awesome!

    I worked on the pre-cursor to the plasma valve at BNL, the Vaunted "Plasma Window" (ooooh, ahhh)

    The thing really is incredible, and yes, I accepted the project because I read the description, and went..."Holy C*ap! That is just like the shuttle bay!" And it is, well...if the shuttle bay were ~4-6mm in diameter =)

    And about the 15K Kelvin thing, yes plasmas do get that hot, but lets get real here, the thing is tiny...I bet the lights above your head get just as hot in the middle of their plasmas.

    Anyway, the project I worked on was very robust and partially scaleable, just would require a boatload of power. It was very "loud" but not "noisy" as we could put very sensitive equipment right next to it and there would be no interference (you physics types should get this) and when you take a collimated beam of light...in one case a green laser, it will shine clear through it with next to no loss, which is a huge improvement over any other method of separating Atmosphere from Vacuum.

    Mind you, this would be only the first stage in a series of differential pumping to get down to UHVacuum.

    Gratz to Ady, he is one helluv a guy!

    -Chris