Hello from Arlington, TX, USA

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Taylor Shead
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Hello from Arlington, TX, USA

Post by Taylor Shead »

Hello! I am a 28yo BS Mechanical Engineering senior at UTA and almost wished I had done Electrical Engineering. I graduate this upcoming Spring or Summer. I am also minoring in Nuclear Engineering.

My electrical knowledge is limited and that is a large reason why I am here. I want to get hands on with electrical projects and build my own fusor. I recently bought a bunch of books on fusion reactors (the big ones) and plasma physics but I feel like the really good books are very expensive out there.

Glad to be here!
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Richard Hull
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Re: Hello from Arlington, TX, USA

Post by Richard Hull »

The best book that will give a good technical overview is a very old one. It covers all of the early fusion attempts in well done overviews and their short comings.

"Project Sherwood", By Amasa Bishop. Bishop was an early head of the AEC fusion program. The book is a small hardback, very readable, very well done and cheap if found at book sellers on line such as ABE (American Book Exchange) Amazon might even have a used copy. I have read my copy three times over the last 20 years. Something clicks with each reading that was lost on me over the years.

I think I put in in my favorites in the References forum here,

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
Taylor Shead
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Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2018 4:09 am
Real name: Taylor Shead

Re: Hello from Arlington, TX, USA

Post by Taylor Shead »

Ahh it sounds similar to one I am reading now: "An Indispensable Truth: How Fusion Power Can Save the Planet" by F. F. Chen. It's also quite readable but it's not very math-y (as in no formulas really). I'm looking for something with that. And I'm interested in learning plasma simulation software. I'm also going to buy soon F. F. Chen's other book: "Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion".

How technical and math-y is "Project Sherwood"?

I also am about to take on the position of Vice President of the American Nuclear Society at my school and I want to be able to pitch to the school the idea for funding for a fusor. However I know this wouldn't be a small task between finding a place for it and safety and the big question: WHY? I know people have done experiments outside of their fusors being 'art projects' but I am no expert on this yet. This is what I will be researching soon. I know I need to likely re-post this in another subsection but do you have any pointers for me? Who is the best person here to contact about help with this?

Thank you!

Taylor Shead
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Richard Hull
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Re: Hello from Arlington, TX, USA

Post by Richard Hull »

No math just details on how those early efforts handled or rather, tried to handle plasma, and how they failed to produce any usable fusion energy.
All the best on trying to understand plasma physics via math. Controlled fusion demands rigidly controlled, idealized and theoretical conditions. Man is not good at flawlessly controlling the many variables through which plasma obeys all aspects of the Lawson criteria over a 24-7-365 time frame. This is something power companies are expected to achieve in the sense of supplying gigawatts to millions of people daily.

The old saw of "fusion is the energy of the future and it always will be" is a good one. I still say no child born this day will live so long as to see one watt of fusion based energy ever issue from his home's wall outlet.

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
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Dennis P Brown
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Re: Hello from Arlington, TX, USA

Post by Dennis P Brown »

Studying real plasma physics, I am sure, can be fun for the right person (I am currently studying General Relativity for that very reason - to each there own.) There are a vast array of books on the subject of intro plasma physics. It is a complex field because it often deals with real world, non-idealized, plasma's. That adds many layers of complexity, unlike Introductory Electro-magnetic books (at the junior level physics.) Best of luck on your studies. I'm certainly enjoying mine.
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Ben_Barnett
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Re: Hello from Arlington, TX, USA

Post by Ben_Barnett »

I go to this school.

Please send me a PM!!
Taylor Shead
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Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2018 4:09 am
Real name: Taylor Shead

Re: Hello from Arlington, TX, USA

Post by Taylor Shead »

Thank you Dennis and I PM’d you Ben!
Justin Fozzard
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Re: Hello from Arlington, TX, USA

Post by Justin Fozzard »

Another superb book from the Project Sherwood era (allegedly called that because "it Sher-wood be nice if it works") is Controlled Thermonuclear Reactions by Glasstone and Lovberg (1960), Krieger Publishing Co. The maths inside is not too onerous, although cgs units are used.

A very interesting book giving a good outlook on the current experimental fusion efforts is by Thomas Dolan, Magnetic Fusion Technology, (2013), Springer.

The most rigorous and accessible recent treatment that I have found on the subject is the two volume work of Abraham Bers, Plasma Physics and Fusion Plasma Electrodynamics, (2016), Oxford University Press. It is expensive and full of maths, but nevertheless very interesting.

Justin Fozzard
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