Slashdot Mirror
Nuclear Fusion Real Soon Now
Mr. A. Coward writes "Researchers at the
National Ignition Facility are attempting to produce nuclear fusion. They'll focus 192 amplified lasers on a pellet of frozen hydrogen. 'NIF experiments will be the first to create fusion that gives off more energy than it takes in.' That will have to be quite a bit, since it will take 500 trillion watts to ignite the pellet in the first place. The facility has been plagued with delays, and so far only 4 of the 192 lasers have been completed. Researchers believe they will first achieve fusion sometime around 2014."
SimCity said they should be avaliable around 2020, right? I love games that tell the future
In 1960 we where gong to have fusion in 1980.
In 1980 we where going to have fusion in 2000.
In 2004 we'll have it in 2014.
Things are starting to look optimistic!
So really, fusion is only another ten years away...
Sounds like an arsonists' boot camp :S
There's supposed to be an earth shattering kaboom!
Call me when FusionSE is released and it's small enough to power my laptop.
'NIF experiments will be the first to create fusion that gives off more energy than it takes in.'
Just sounds like my design plans for a perpetual motion machine. Can I borrow your snake oil for the bearings.
When Redmond announced Longhorn.
Researchers believe they will first achieve fusion sometime around 2014.
What about my flying cars? I was promised flying cars!
A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
You'll need a fusion reactor to power a computer with longhorn.
sale of foil hats will be at an all time high
We'll certainly need the power of fusion for it.
sp what do you you when you're in a lab with a little pellet of frozen hydrogen that's going to release 500 trillion watts? light it up and run?
Let's see, we get fusion in abou 10 years. That's 2014. Maybe 10 years later, we have a terrible disaster. That's 2024. So in 2044, I'm predicting we get a slashdot story about a cute biker chick riding around "ghost town," or what used to be Livermore, California.
April 1st isn't until Thursday.
This announcement was supposed to come out simultaneously with the "verified" claim to have found Methane on Mars, and with Condoleeza Rice's hillarious admission of guilt before the 9/11 commission, all on Thursday. Now you've ruined it.
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
Yeah, but at least this way, you won't have to wait for your coffee! I knew our tax dollars wouldn't be wasted!
Date an English major.
I'd rather not. I never went for the Army type.
so, in 10 years these guys can potentially solve the world's energy problems and help stop the devastation non-renewable fuels are doing to the environment.
or, you can build us a couple of new bridges.
hmmm...
and probably a handy super weapon to kill all our enemies too.
go easy on him--if he's a real /. geek he hasn't seen the sun in a while
Will I be able to cook burritos any faster?
Sorry, I couldn't resist...
You mean the moon? It really doesn't hurt my eyes though. It does make me want to howl...
Case 1:
Article: "When all 192 lasers in the NIF are operating, they'll focus 500 trillion watts (everything after this point is non-existent) - more than 1,000 times the power generated in the United States - on their target, albeit only for a few billionths of a second."
Slashdotter: "500 trillion watts?! You gotta be fuckin' kidding! You're gonna blow up California!"
Case 2:
Article: "When all 192 lasers in the NIF are operating, they'll focus a few kilojoules worth of energy on a hydrogen pellet..."
Slashdotter: "WTF is this all about? Is this good? Or is it whack?"
Case 3:
Article: "With this (Dr. Evil style)LA-SER device, we're gonna get FU-SION using less energy then what your Prescott has consumed while you're reading this piece of crap!"
Slashdotter: "I, for one, welcomes our new fusion power overlord! l33t!!!!"
My 1 year old turned into a 3 year old the last time I went shopping with my wife and kid.
http://www.aaplblog.com/ - News about Apple Inc.
As if! First you have to teach the sharks to fly!
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Perhaps we should send a couple of settlers to the capitol and use them to help finish this Great Wonder!
*Points at big glowing spherical fusion plant in the sky*
;).
In 4 billion years when that sucker goes red-giant we'll see what it can't meltdown
I like my Earth's extra-crispy.
Yes, a world of happiness and leisure... for everyone except the poor sucker who has to keep pushing the frozen hydrogen pellets into the lasers.
Hope he's got real thick gloves.
One god, one market, one truth, one consumer.
Besides, making this big ungainly beast is an important step towards getting a Mr. Fusion power supply for a DeLorean, a critical part of our future economy.
Don't you mean our past economy?
I am the hub of Jack's digital lifestyle.
Skycar
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
Ok, i blame my blindness on you. I've not been in the sun for weeks.. AND NOW LOOK AT ME! And now, back to the matter at hand. Nulcear fusion is possible. have a nice day :)
Whadaya mean "need a fusion reactor"? Our design plan is that the CPU will be so hot and so compressed that it will serve as its own fusion reactor! Intel and AMD are already on board with this. If it weren't for Transmeta, we'd have a perfect plan for world domination! (Think of the games, too! Microsoft Reactor Simulator 2000 Rad...)
Thats all well and good but can you strap it to a freaking shark?
Think of the games, too! Microsoft Reactor Simulator 2000
And when it crashes?! Symantec Anti-Rad... Now with CoolCore(r) Technology
ah, but you forget the x/5 cents *10 cents in governmental subsidies that will be granted and bestowed on any upstart fusion power plant, making fusion power economical which them makes more fusion power plants which makes the tech cheaper which makes more power plants which make R&D greater which makes equipment cheaper which....you get the idea.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
In related news, NIF has ordered 192 sharks.
Boss: When do you expect to finish the project?
Me: Hmmm, lemme see, I think I'll finish it by year 2014, and then it may not work.
Boss: OK, here's your paycheck. By the way, we've approved that $20M yearly budget increase.
Boy, wouldn't that be sweet? Software industry is a wrong domain to work in right now. Those bloodsucking PHBs demand results every freaking week.
any physicist worth his salt knows this one..
"plasma fusion is 20 years away. and it will always be."
notice how grammer is not a necessary component of a physicists salt content ^_^
Marty McFly: So does it run on regular unleaded gasoline?
Dr. Emmett Brown: Unfortunately no, it needs something with a little more kick - plutonium.
Marty McFly: Plutonium... wait, are you telling me that this sucker is nuclear?
Dr. Emmett Brown: No no no, this sucker's electrical, but it requires a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity I need.
Marty McFly: Doc, you don't just walk into a store and buy plutonium... did you rip that off?
Dr. Emmett Brown: Shhhhhh. Of course. From a group of Libyan nationalists. They wanted me to build them a bomb, so I took their plutonium and in turn, gave them a shiny bomb-casing filled with used pinball machine parts.
-- There is no spoon. Only fork.
A hundred years from now I'd just like to be alive...
No problem. Just found the EIAA (Energy Industry Association of America), and outlaw all competitors, and artifically limit the supply. It works for other industries too, why not for energy. It's not as if the energy industry is missing the cash to buy quality congress critters, after all!
Hehe, though sadly, I think that if we were alive in 100 years we would BE the environmental problem ;)
Real Soon Now
Get as many people together as you can, with laser pointers and a hydrogen filled balloon.
--
Luck is just skill you didn't know you had.