George Ressinger Fusion Club

Current images of fusor efforts, components, etc. Try to continuously update from your name, a current photo using edit function. Title post with your name once only. Change image and text as needed. See first posting for details.
Post Reply
George Ressinger
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 09, 2016 5:25 pm
Real name: George Ressinger

George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by George Ressinger »

Hey everybody, I'm George, a high school senior from Chicago, and this is a follow up to my previous setup post.

After a short delay, I'm very happy to announce that on December 28th, I successfully achieved fusion.

At a pressure range of 8 to 15 microns over five minutes, I held a voltage of 24.5-24.8 Kv at between 23 and 28 ma from my spellman XLF supply

A 29 bub/mrem BTI neutron dosimeter placed 19cm away from my grid's focal point measured 34 bubbles, or about 1.17 mrem of neutrons over my 300 sec run

Another dosimeter, a 22 bub/mrem, was stored nearby for my next run, and also recorded 4 bubbles, or .18 mrem.
Attachments
A photo of my most recent setup, minus my ballast resistor
A photo of my most recent setup, minus my ballast resistor
grid running hotttt
grid running hotttt
Plasma and tungsten sputter
Plasma and tungsten sputter
the dosimeter with 34 bubbles
the dosimeter with 34 bubbles
User avatar
Kuba Anglin
Posts: 78
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:11 pm
Real name: Kuba Anglin
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

Re: George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by Kuba Anglin »

Amazing job! If my calculations are correct, your fusor was producing 500,000 neutrons per second (or 1,000,000 fusions per second). Congratulations from a fellow high school fusioneer! It is a little strange that there are few bubbles near the top of your dosimeter, but this is likely due to an uneven distribution of droplets in the gel.

Kuba
User avatar
Rich Feldman
Posts: 1470
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:59 pm
Real name: Rich Feldman
Location: Santa Clara County, CA, USA

Re: George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by Rich Feldman »

Looking good there, George.

Are you interested in joining a club that has more than one member?
I personally hope that this time, Richard Hull and others will join me in asking you to check the rules that Richard wrote.
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=13#p506 (May 2007, amended August 2012).
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3134&p=73011 (June 2011, amended Dec. 2016)
It's understood that those posts are easy to overlook, and are partly redundant, and could well include minor discrepancies.

George, I bet it wouldn't take long for you to set an example of compliance on all points. For example, a picture that includes you. It would put you in company with Kuba, Noah, and the rest of the names in NC list (except for a notorious few).

This is not about summary dismissal of an incomplete application. It's an invitation to make it better. Would be nice if college applications were handled that kindly. Even if a rule is petty, if it's not burdensome then flouting it is a sign of disrespect for the fusor.net community. Doesn't matter how much or how little your project was helped by access to the forum, if you seek the honor (?) of being on this particular neutron club roll.

I bet nobody will bother you with retroactive concerns about the registration and posting rules:
r1.PNG
r1.PNG (22.61 KiB) Viewed 6625 times
Congratulations on learning & practicing the successful release of free neutrons with a fusor.
Respectfully,
Rich Feldman
All models are wrong; some models are useful. -- George Box
George Ressinger
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 09, 2016 5:25 pm
Real name: George Ressinger

Re: George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by George Ressinger »

Rich,
I appreciate the advice, and I had already read (repeatedly) both posts regarding requirements for admission into the neutron club. I'm happy to say that I am confident I have satisfied them all.

Though in neither of the posts you supplied, or that I have found, was a requirement for a picture of me with my Fusor present, I understand it was present in an old post that I have been unable to locate, and so one is attached.

I am puzzled by your reference to the registration and posting rules, as I have also satisfied those.

No disrespect was meant, I simply was unaware of a rule that wasn't present in any readily accessible posting, and that even Richard Hull has downplayed the import and necessity of. (also in the post you linked)

Also, thanks Kuba, I got a similar number. I think the inconsistency in bubble distribution may be due to some shielding that was in the way at the time, but also that the long axis of my fusor pointed towards the lower part of the dosimeter.

Warmest Regards,
George W. Ressinger
Attachments
also me with my fusor
also me with my fusor
Me with My Fusor
Me with My Fusor
User avatar
Rich Feldman
Posts: 1470
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:59 pm
Real name: Rich Feldman
Location: Santa Clara County, CA, USA

Re: George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by Rich Feldman »

Hey George, I apologize. My mistake on both counts! :oops:

Those rules posts aren't under document control, so I can't determine when the "selfie" requirement vanished. You can see a reference to it in Greg Courville's fusion claim about a year ago. I think it was still in place when Kuba and Noah joined the club, using the same D2 lecture bottle that Greg had used. Maybe the rules were discussed & changed at the HEAS "convention" in 11/2016, which I didn't have the pleasure of attending. It's good to see a picture of you. Here's me a few weeks ago. Someone who has never yet made a fusor, but wants to some day, and sure likes to talk about them.
rf.PNG
rf.PNG (123.02 KiB) Viewed 6562 times
As for that bit about a member's first post being an introduction... I had run "search user's posts" when your count was 12. The list appears with newest on top, and I didn't notice that there was a page 2 with your oldest.

So thank you for setting a great example of following the rules. As mentioned before, your OP gives the impression that you've released lots of neutrons & have a good understanding of all the subsystems in your apparatus. If anyone digs more deeply to pick on technical details, it won't be me.

Rich
All models are wrong; some models are useful. -- George Box
John Futter
Posts: 1848
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 10:29 pm
Real name: John Futter
Contact:

Re: George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by John Futter »

George
Well done
I have only one small niggle over your bubble dosimeter
the bubbles are all large and similar in size which can happen if you get the dosimeter warm to hot.

This also depends on when the photo was taken --how many minutes / hours since the fusion run.

It pays not to have the dosimeter touching any of the fusor parts as they get very hot in your case 600 odd watts will make the setup very to extremely hot
do not despair over our comments we are rigorous - we like several differnet angles on the experiment to rule out a false positive
Last edited by John Futter on Tue Jan 17, 2017 1:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Richard Hull
Moderator
Posts: 14991
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2001 9:44 am
Real name: Richard Hull

Re: George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by Richard Hull »

A small issue, maybe a deal breaker.

1. The bubbles are huge and typically indicate a defective or out of date dosimeter. Every similar image ever published here show rather tiny bubbles and all who have used such a dosimeter in real fusion work know that the bubbles in their dosimeters are tiny. Heat from a hot fusor will produce giant bubbles if placed too near the device. chk out images at....

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=10778

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=10973

Compare their data and high pressure and low bubble counts with yours....

2. No dosimeter will produce that many bubbles in the time frame you claim at the very low voltages you note and the pressures and currents you claim. Others who have used this dosimeter are very aware of this. A much more reasonable tiny bubble count in your dosimeter at the voltage, current, pressure and time you claim would be one to three bubbles. There is just not a lot of fusion going on at 25kv.

could you show us your power supply and the metering you used.

Also reset your dosimeter and show that no bubbles are present (image). Next,re-run the tests and show us your dosimeter after those tests.

Any others here who have used the bubble dosimeter want to comment? I am quoting from my own personal use of a 2 different BTI bubble dosimeters over a total of 33 different runs over two years. My first dosimeter went bad and produced giant bubbles at bizarre super levels. I then obtained a new second dosimeter to continue more data runs. Other posted images for a number of fusioneers here all show reasonable small bubbles in quantaties that jibe with the quoted voaltages, pressures, times and currents.

Thanks

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
David Kunkle
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2014 12:43 pm
Real name: David Kunkle

Re: George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by David Kunkle »

Have to agree with John and Richard. Bubbles don't look right. The bubbles I've generated in my own detector from a nuclespot and Be neutron source look just like these: i.ytimg.com/vi/RmyyEKjbofg/hqdefault.jpg

You could replicate the fusion run- except use an air plasma instead of D2. Put the detector in the exact same spot and see if you get the same type of bubbles. Since there are no bubbles in the tip of the detector, perhaps that area stayed cooler if the bubbles were generated by heat?

"but also that the long axis of my fusor pointed towards the lower part of the dosimeter."
Not sure that should make any difference as neutrons are always emitted isotropically?
If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.

Ernest Rutherford
JakeJHecla
Posts: 91
Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2011 6:19 pm
Real name:

Re: George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by JakeJHecla »

WRT bubbles size/shape- I've worked with quite a few bubble dosimeters, and I've seen a few legitimate counts show up with large disc-shaped bubbles. However, more often than not, these are the result of a dying dosimeter that has been heated excessively. The variation in quality of BTI dosimeters has never been great, and I have had the displeasure of seeing some of them fail after <4mos of generally good treatment. Yours might be another early casualty. I would re-run this experiment with the dosimeter on a support structure separate from the fusor cart itself (I used a gooseneck lamp with the lamp part removed at one point). To assuage any other concerns, it might be valuable to use a GoPro to show the bubble detector with the fusor in the background.

If the flat-bubble issue doesn't resolve, or you're unable to get your hands on a new dosimeter, I have a He3 tube/moderator that I could loan you.
User avatar
Kuba Anglin
Posts: 78
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:11 pm
Real name: Kuba Anglin
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

Re: George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by Kuba Anglin »

The good thing is that you are operating your reactor within the fusion realm. If your numbers are correct, you should be doing fusion. However, I must change my verdict and agree with the others who posted here.

Bubbles due to heat would explain the localized bubble formation as well as the surprisingly high neutron flux for your operating voltage. It is not so easy to shield neutrons, so we should see an even distribution in your detector.

The thing that concerns me is that you claim the dosimeter was 19 cm from your ideal neutron source. That is quite a distance to be experiencing heat issues unless your detector was near a warm device other than your fusor's main chamber.

As John points out, bubbles do begin expanding once they form in the detector. I noticed this effect to be significant about an hour after the bubbles form. I am confident you are doing fusion, but an extra run with undeniable evidence will secure you a spot in the club.

Best of luck and great job so far!

Kuba
User avatar
Bob Reite
Posts: 576
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2013 9:03 pm
Real name: Bob Reite
Location: Wilkes Barre/Scranton area

Re: George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by Bob Reite »

Do the bubbles go away when you screw down the detector to reset it? If not, the detector has been damaged or the life time has expired. How long do you have to leave the detector screwed down before it stays reset? A brand new one will usually reset in 10-15 minutes. When it's about at the end of life it takes 1/2 hour to reset. After that you can't get rid of the bubbles. While you can continue to use it, keeping track of additional bubbles after each run, it will get to the point where you won't be able to count them, and the accuracy will be questionable.
The more reactive the materials, the more spectacular the failures.
The testing isn't over until the prototype is destroyed.
User avatar
Richard Hull
Moderator
Posts: 14991
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2001 9:44 am
Real name: Richard Hull

Re: George Ressinger Fusion Club

Post by Richard Hull »

Again, far too many bubbles for the time of run and the extremely low operational voltage.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Post Reply

Return to “Images du Jour”