Ever since the 20 beam IR Shiva laser at LLNL was built in ~1978 all of the giant multibeam fusion lasers (in no particular order:NOVA, ARGUS, OMEGA, JANUS, LMJ, GEKKO XII, CICLOPS, NIF, ISKRA-5, VULCAN,..... etc.) right or wrong, are simply referred to as being "a" laser. Also, the fact that NIF will be capable of ignition scale fusion is VERY important in nuclear weapons testing. H-bombs by definition DO achieve ignition.
yes its just another definition of ignition. spectrum of energy emitted by the H? I'm not sure I understand what you're after. If it is the energy of the products of the DT reaction you're interested in then its H-3 + H-2--> He-4 (with a kinetic energy of 3.5 MeV) and a hot neutron with a KE of 14.1 MeV. If it is the actual electromagnetic radiation from the hot plasma you are talking about then it just radiates like a blackbody at ohhh say 100 million degrees:o) which happens to be mostly in hard X-rays.
Incidentally, as long as I'm posting here I'd like to say that (no surprise really, its a science article) the AP article gets it a bit wrong. The NIF will never achieve the status of "most powerful" laser on earth. Highest energy laser on earth? At 2 MEGAjoules yes it will be the most energetic. But not the most powerful. The maximum power of the NIF is estimated at 500-750 Terawatts (trillion watts) (I'm approximating). However, the OMEGA EP laser which will be finished in 2007 (before NIF) will achieve a power of over 2 PETAwatts or 2 million billion watts. Several times that of the NIF.
that line was meant to say: the NIF will almost certainly NOT achieve breakeven (total power in is equal to or less than total power out)because Nd:glass lasers are disgustingly inefficient (~1%).
The term "ignition" refers to the point of intensity of a fusion reaction whereby the high (kinetic) energy He nuclei fusion product is sufficient in power to heat any remaining fuel to the point of fusing itself. ie. when the reaction is capable of sustaining itself provided you continue to feed it with fuel. It is called Q=1. The NIF should achieve >Q=10 on a full system DT shot and this is called thermonuclear ignition and burn with "high gain". NOTE! the NIF will almost certainly NOT achieve breakeven (total power in Nd:glass lasers are disgustingly inefficient (~1%). Diode pumped Nd:glass is another story however and if a power plant is ever to be constructed using laser fusion then that is likely what will be used. They are still too fantastically expensive today though.
There seem to be a lot of "WTF?? electromagnetic pump w/no moving parts?!?" posts here and while I do not know the intricate details of this particuar implementation I STRONGLY suspect that a casual perusal of the science behind the Einstein-Szilard refrigerators would prove highly informative.... Its a bizarre and almost unknown chapter in the history of safe refrigeration techniques.... and Einstein's life for that matter!
Yes but probably not pure Ga but the GalInStan eutectic instead. Anyway though it's non toxic/non pyrophoric/non volatile is it still a METAL and a leak inside your computer would be instantly catastrophic for obvious reasons.
For those wanting more in depth detail on the whole thing, check out the always fantastic unmannedspaceflight.com. They've already made several animations from the hazcams showing Oppy's progress. There is always something really neat to see there.
Gordon Gould, after helping to invent the LASER in the late 50's coined the terms XASER, IRASER, UVASER, GRASER etc. No one really used the terms and they never caught on, except for one that is. MASER.
uhmmm...yeah, so I RTFA and I'm really curious as to where the X-ray laser demo is going to take place... X-ray lasers aren't like pocket laser pointers. There are only a few places in the world that can achieve them. Either you use a MASSIVE laser which focuses on a piece of metal forming an ultrahot plasma that can lase superradiantly (without a resonator cavity because the gain is so high in the lasing plasma) for a few nanoseconds (first demonstrated on the NOVA laser at LLNL in 1984) OR you use a huge ass particle (electrons) accelerator to form a free electron laser with a magnetic undulator. In fact, I don't think X-ray FELs have been achieved anywhere on earth yet, period. I would guess that the only lasers in europe capable of making an X-ray laser are the Vulcan at the CCLRC in the UK and maybe LULI in France. So how is this happening in Brussels?
I wish I had one of those keychains do test this out myself! I have a pancake ludlum too!!:) It's not that I doubt your claim, it's just that it is IMPOSSIBLE for the 18KeV (max) betas from H-3 to escape the glass capsule. Either you are detecting radiation from the glass itself (not an uncommon phenomenon) or you are detecting the X-rays (bremstrahllung) from the deceleration of the betas as they slam into the glass.... OR...could the phosphor be a rare earth (Eu?) variety with some leftover contamination from the separation process? (wild guess)
Well...They are useful for sampling air. You take air into the device with a little pump and measure the ionization level inside a small chamber. I've used them at work and they do a pretty good job, lots of false positives though from other things in the air. Surface samplers work on the same principle.
While Ra is dangerous for the reasons you cite, it does not pool in the lungs because it is heavy. Yes the density is high but it is very easily thorougly mixed at room temperatures and further still, by the turbulent airflow of the lungs.
...but they've got a switch which moves an arm, and a single neuron controlling the on off. From down, to up. No control. You could also say "Monkey uses mind to start a car!" using the same single neuron to control a remote starter.
"He puts a lot of work into his articles, which may be the reason they get accepted by Slashdot."
Are you serious? Really? You honestly think that this is "a lot of work"? That is incredibly sad. Virtually the entire "article" consists of blocks of direcct quotations from press releases and other primary sources. Just like every single article he's ever posted. He then embelishes with a sprinkling of phony fluff commentary ("ohh tell me what YOU think!") merely to stave of accusations of plagairism (which he has been rightly accused of in the past).
"Please don't visit and comment on Slashdot discussions in which you have no interest."
So you don't see fit to take your own advice when it's YOU who has an opinion on something not pertaining directly to the article though right? Funny, that.
Outlets which publish interviews with leaders in the science and tech fields, book reviews, editorials and politics commentary generally need some kind of integrity, else why would anyone give any credence to their publication? Why read it at all? The journalistic integrity is implicit. Let me be clear, I think/. is still a great place. Ireallylove the fact that there is a place where I can submit articles I think are cool and that I think others here will be interested in and then see insightful and fascinating comments on those articles that I never would've previously considered. That's one of the things that makes/. great. The other thing is the readership here and its unusually high level of genuine curiosity and intelligence. Some say this has declined over the years but I don't really see that too much. Exhibit A in this case is the person who posted a reply to my comment (just below your reply) he is QuantumFTL. He has, among other things, been generous enough to post stories and comments on the mars rover project from his inside viewpoint at JPL where he works. I think that is pretty damn cool and very nice of him. THAT is what this community should be about (and for the most part largely still IS about), sharing cool stuff with everyone else here; that's what makes it great. Roland, on the other hand exploits and dupes his readers into clicking links in his stories not because he wants to contribute anything of value (a mere glance at his site reveals it to be simply regurgitated press releases with a minor amount of padded fluff to make it appear legit) to the community here but instead, merely because he wants to reap their click thrus and ad dollars. That sucks, and if left unchecked, has the potential to, I fear, hurt this unique community.
FUCK YOU ROLAND! FUCK. YOU. I have posted here for 6 years, submitted and had accepted many stories and have excellent karma so I don't care if this one, out of character post loses me a few karma points. Every damn time I click a link in a story without first looking at the submitter and find myself at your uninformative useless advert vehicle of a "website" (and this is an often occurrence) I feel like I've been trolled. The fact that you have the shameless audacity to ask the readers of your submissions to "Read this summary before telling me what you think and if you've heard about a similar story." is vile and scummy. I have heard and previously agreed with all the "who cares it's just a dumb/. submission by some loser" appeals to better temperament but this has got to be like the 20th time this has happened and it really get's my goat. You are trolling your own readers for advertiser cash and that is disgusting. I don't know if you give kickbacks to Taco or what (or maybe they just don't give a shit), but the fact that/. keeps posting your non-stories reflects extremely poorly on the status of any journalistic integrity/. claims to have.
Blasphemer!!! May a thousand Sky Women smite you to a million years of suffering!! Everyone knows there is only one TRUE creation explanation and IT is what should be taught in all of our schools not your Brahma and Vishnu heresy!
"Long before the world was created there was an island, floating in the sky, upon which the Sky People lived. They lived quietly and happily. No one ever died or was born or experienced sadness. However one day one of the Sky Women realized she was going to give birth to twins. She told her husband, who flew into a rage. In the center of the island there was a tree which gave light to the entire island since the sun hadn't been created yet. He tore up this tree, creating a huge hole in the middle of the island. Curiously, the woman peered into the hole. Far below she could see the waters that covered the earth. At that moment her husband pushed her. She fell through the hole, tumbling towards the waters below. Water animals already existed on the earth, so far below the floating island two birds saw the Sky Woman fall. Just before she reached the waters they caught her on their backs and brought her to the other animals. Determined to help the woman they dove into the water to get mud from the bottom of the seas. One after another the animals tried and failed. Finally, Little Toad tried and when he reappeared his mouth was full of mud. The animals took it and spread it on the back of Big Turtle. The mud began to grow and grow and grow until it became the size of North America. Then the woman stepped onto the land. She sprinkled dust into the air and created stars. Then she created the moon and sun.
The Sky Woman gave birth to twin sons. She named one Sapling. He grew to be kind and gentle. She named the other Flint and his heart was as cold as his name. They grew quickly and began filling the earth with their creations.
Sapling created what is good. He made animals that are useful to humans. He made rivers that went two ways and into these he put fish without bones. He made plants that people could eat easily. If he was able to do all the work himself there would be no suffering.
Flint destroyed much of Sapling's work and created all that is bad. He made the rivers flow only in one direction. He put bones in fish and thorns on berry bushes. He created winter, but Sapling gave it life so that it could move to give way to Spring. He created monsters which his brother drove beneath the Earth. Eventually Sapling and Flint decided to fight till one conquered the other. Neither was able to win at first, but finally Flint was beaten. Because he was a god Flint could not die, so he was forced to live on Big Turtle's back. Occasionally his anger is felt in the form of a volcano."
The parachutes worked fine. The crash was caused by a tiny microswitch on one of the landing feet that was supposed to switch the engines off when it was clicked shut by touching rocks/dirt. It bounced shut 40M up because that's when the feet unfolded causing a slight jolt to the craft. No one anticipated that and the software was designed ONLY to say: switch closed=shut down engines now!
Slashdot Mirror
Ever since the 20 beam IR Shiva laser at LLNL was built in ~1978 all of the giant multibeam fusion lasers (in no particular order:NOVA, ARGUS, OMEGA, JANUS, LMJ, GEKKO XII, CICLOPS, NIF, ISKRA-5, VULCAN, ..... etc.) right or wrong, are simply referred to as being "a" laser. Also, the fact that NIF will be capable of ignition scale fusion is VERY important in nuclear weapons testing. H-bombs by definition DO achieve ignition.
yes its just another definition of ignition. spectrum of energy emitted by the H? I'm not sure I understand what you're after. If it is the energy of the products of the DT reaction you're interested in then its H-3 + H-2--> He-4 (with a kinetic energy of 3.5 MeV) and a hot neutron with a KE of 14.1 MeV. If it is the actual electromagnetic radiation from the hot plasma you are talking about then it just radiates like a blackbody at ohhh say 100 million degrees :o) which happens to be mostly in hard X-rays.
Incidentally, as long as I'm posting here I'd like to say that (no surprise really, its a science article) the AP article gets it a bit wrong. The NIF will never achieve the status of "most powerful" laser on earth. Highest energy laser on earth? At 2 MEGAjoules yes it will be the most energetic. But not the most powerful. The maximum power of the NIF is estimated at 500-750 Terawatts (trillion watts) (I'm approximating). However, the OMEGA EP laser which will be finished in 2007 (before NIF) will achieve a power of over 2 PETAwatts or 2 million billion watts. Several times that of the NIF.
hey, my post got garbled!
that line was meant to say:
the NIF will almost certainly NOT achieve breakeven (total power in is equal to or less than total power out)because Nd:glass lasers are disgustingly inefficient (~1%).
The term "ignition" refers to the point of intensity of a fusion reaction whereby the high (kinetic) energy He nuclei fusion product is sufficient in power to heat any remaining fuel to the point of fusing itself. ie. when the reaction is capable of sustaining itself provided you continue to feed it with fuel. It is called Q=1. The NIF should achieve >Q=10 on a full system DT shot and this is called thermonuclear ignition and burn with "high gain". NOTE! the NIF will almost certainly NOT achieve breakeven (total power in Nd:glass lasers are disgustingly inefficient (~1%). Diode pumped Nd:glass is another story however and if a power plant is ever to be constructed using laser fusion then that is likely what will be used. They are still too fantastically expensive today though.
There seem to be a lot of "WTF?? electromagnetic pump w/no moving parts?!?" posts here and while I do not know the intricate details of this particuar implementation I STRONGLY suspect that a casual perusal of the science behind the Einstein-Szilard refrigerators would prove highly informative.... Its a bizarre and almost unknown chapter in the history of safe refrigeration techniques.... and Einstein's life for that matter!
Yes but probably not pure Ga but the GalInStan eutectic instead. Anyway though it's non toxic/non pyrophoric/non volatile is it still a METAL and a leak inside your computer would be instantly catastrophic for obvious reasons.
For those wanting more in depth detail on the whole thing, check out the always fantastic unmannedspaceflight.com. They've already made several animations from the hazcams showing Oppy's progress. There is always something really neat to see there.
not. It also took a picture of Mars Express.
Oh, and it wasn't Gould who coined MASER, it was Townes, who joked that it stood for Method for Arriving at Support for Expensive Research.
Gordon Gould, after helping to invent the LASER in the late 50's coined the terms XASER, IRASER, UVASER, GRASER etc. No one really used the terms and they never caught on, except for one that is. MASER.
uhmmm...yeah, so I RTFA and I'm really curious as to where the X-ray laser demo is going to take place... X-ray lasers aren't like pocket laser pointers. There are only a few places in the world that can achieve them. Either you use a MASSIVE laser which focuses on a piece of metal forming an ultrahot plasma that can lase superradiantly (without a resonator cavity because the gain is so high in the lasing plasma) for a few nanoseconds (first demonstrated on the NOVA laser at LLNL in 1984) OR you use a huge ass particle (electrons) accelerator to form a free electron laser with a magnetic undulator. In fact, I don't think X-ray FELs have been achieved anywhere on earth yet, period. I would guess that the only lasers in europe capable of making an X-ray laser are the Vulcan at the CCLRC in the UK and maybe LULI in France. So how is this happening in Brussels?
ooh....uhmmm....are you...you know...a......pleasure model?
Actually it was originally called Zeugmatography. Then NMR imaging, then just MR imaging.
I wish I had one of those keychains do test this out myself! I have a pancake ludlum too!! :) It's not that I doubt your claim, it's just that it is IMPOSSIBLE for the 18KeV (max) betas from H-3 to escape the glass capsule. Either you are detecting radiation from the glass itself (not an uncommon phenomenon) or you are detecting the X-rays (bremstrahllung) from the deceleration of the betas as they slam into the glass.... OR...could the phosphor be a rare earth (Eu?) variety with some leftover contamination from the separation process? (wild guess)
Well...They are useful for sampling air. You take air into the device with a little pump and measure the ionization level inside a small chamber. I've used them at work and they do a pretty good job, lots of false positives though from other things in the air. Surface samplers work on the same principle.
While Ra is dangerous for the reasons you cite, it does not pool in the lungs because it is heavy. Yes the density is high but it is very easily thorougly mixed at room temperatures and further still, by the turbulent airflow of the lungs.
uhhhmmmm..... :)
...but they've got a switch which moves an arm, and a single neuron controlling the on off. From down, to up. No control. You could also say "Monkey uses mind to start a car!" using the same single neuron to control a remote starter.
Really. That's not what it looks like to me.
"He puts a lot of work into his articles, which may be the reason they get accepted by Slashdot."
Are you serious? Really? You honestly think that this is "a lot of work"? That is incredibly sad. Virtually the entire "article" consists of blocks of direcct quotations from press releases and other primary sources. Just like every single article he's ever posted. He then embelishes with a sprinkling of phony fluff commentary ("ohh tell me what YOU think!") merely to stave of accusations of plagairism (which he has been rightly accused of in the past).
"Please don't visit and comment on Slashdot discussions in which you have no interest."
So you don't see fit to take your own advice when it's YOU who has an opinion on something not pertaining directly to the article though right? Funny, that.
Outlets which publish interviews with leaders in the science and tech fields, book reviews, editorials and politics commentary generally need some kind of integrity, else why would anyone give any credence to their publication? Why read it at all? The journalistic integrity is implicit. Let me be clear, I think /. is still a great place. I really love the fact that there is a place where I can submit articles I think are cool and that I think others here will be interested in and then see insightful and fascinating comments on those articles that I never would've previously considered. That's one of the things that makes /. great. The other thing is the readership here and its unusually high level of genuine curiosity and intelligence. Some say this has declined over the years but I don't really see that too much. Exhibit A in this case is the person who posted a reply to my comment (just below your reply) he is QuantumFTL. He has, among other things, been generous enough to post stories and comments on the mars rover project from his inside viewpoint at JPL where he works. I think that is pretty damn cool and very nice of him. THAT is what this community should be about (and for the most part largely still IS about), sharing cool stuff with everyone else here; that's what makes it great. Roland, on the other hand exploits and dupes his readers into clicking links in his stories not because he wants to contribute anything of value (a mere glance at his site reveals it to be simply regurgitated press releases with a minor amount of padded fluff to make it appear legit) to the community here but instead, merely because he wants to reap their click thrus and ad dollars. That sucks, and if left unchecked, has the potential to, I fear, hurt this unique community.
FUCK YOU ROLAND! FUCK. YOU. I have posted here for 6 years, submitted and had accepted many stories and have excellent karma so I don't care if this one, out of character post loses me a few karma points. Every damn time I click a link in a story without first looking at the submitter and find myself at your uninformative useless advert vehicle of a "website" (and this is an often occurrence) I feel like I've been trolled. The fact that you have the shameless audacity to ask the readers of your submissions to "Read this summary before telling me what you think and if you've heard about a similar story." is vile and scummy. I have heard and previously agreed with all the "who cares it's just a dumb /. submission by some loser" appeals to better temperament but this has got to be like the 20th time this has happened and it really get's my goat. You are trolling your own readers for advertiser cash and that is disgusting. I don't know if you give kickbacks to Taco or what (or maybe they just don't give a shit), but the fact that /. keeps posting your non-stories reflects extremely poorly on the status of any journalistic integrity /. claims to have.
Sieg heil! :) Just kidding, you obviously are right.
Blasphemer!!! May a thousand Sky Women smite you to a million years of suffering!! Everyone knows there is only one TRUE creation explanation and IT is what should be taught in all of our schools not your Brahma and Vishnu heresy!
"Long before the world was created there was an island, floating in the sky, upon which the Sky People lived. They lived quietly and happily. No one ever died or was born or experienced sadness. However one day one of the Sky Women realized she was going to give birth to twins. She told her husband, who flew into a rage. In the center of the island there was a tree which gave light to the entire island since the sun hadn't been created yet. He tore up this tree, creating a huge hole in the middle of the island. Curiously, the woman peered into the hole. Far below she could see the waters that covered the earth. At that moment her husband pushed her. She fell through the hole, tumbling towards the waters below. Water animals already existed on the earth, so far below the floating island two birds saw the Sky Woman fall. Just before she reached the waters they caught her on their backs and brought her to the other animals. Determined to help the woman they dove into the water to get mud from the bottom of the seas. One after another the animals tried and failed. Finally, Little Toad tried and when he reappeared his mouth was full of mud. The animals took it and spread it on the back of Big Turtle. The mud began to grow and grow and grow until it became the size of North America. Then the woman stepped onto the land. She sprinkled dust into the air and created stars. Then she created the moon and sun.
The Sky Woman gave birth to twin sons. She named one Sapling. He grew to be kind and gentle. She named the other Flint and his heart was as cold as his name. They grew quickly and began filling the earth with their creations.
Sapling created what is good. He made animals that are useful to humans. He made rivers that went two ways and into these he put fish without bones. He made plants that people could eat easily. If he was able to do all the work himself there would be no suffering.
Flint destroyed much of Sapling's work and created all that is bad. He made the rivers flow only in one direction. He put bones in fish and thorns on berry bushes. He created winter, but Sapling gave it life so that it could move to give way to Spring. He created monsters which his brother drove beneath the Earth. Eventually Sapling and Flint decided to fight till one conquered the other. Neither was able to win at first, but finally Flint was beaten. Because he was a god Flint could not die, so he was forced to live on Big Turtle's back. Occasionally his anger is felt in the form of a volcano."
The parachutes worked fine. The crash was caused by a tiny microswitch on one of the landing feet that was supposed to switch the engines off when it was clicked shut by touching rocks/dirt. It bounced shut 40M up because that's when the feet unfolded causing a slight jolt to the craft. No one anticipated that and the software was designed ONLY to say: switch closed=shut down engines now!
assbox!? best. word. ever!!