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Cameron Palte
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2014 3:57 pm
Real name: Cameron Palte

Hello Everyone!

Post by Cameron Palte »

Hello Everyone,
My name is Cameron and I live in Silicon Valley. My friend and I are planning on building a nuclear fusion reactor for the Intel Science fair.

Update: I should probably add more information I didn't have much time when first writing this. So he and I went to a lecture by Mikio Kaku a while ago and because that was my first time going to a lecture by him I decided to look up some background information. I was reading about him and I got to the thing where he built a particle accelerator in high school. That seemed pretty interesting to me so an easily distracted me went searching around the web about building a homemade particle accelerator and then came across building a homemade fusion reactor which seemed a lot more interesting and fun. I thought seriously about it and thought it was possible so I asked him to help me. At first he thought it was unrealistic but then he did some more research and realized it was possible so we started working on it together. That was a few months ago.


Obviously as you guys know these things are by no means cheap and while I could probably pay for it with my own money I decided to ask my parents if they would be willing to fund it as a 'school science' venture. They said if I can write them a proposal convincing them that the project is a good idea they would fund it. We wrote up proposal v1 which they liked but raised some concerns. Currently we are working on proposal v2 and hopefully in the next few weeks or so we can actually start working on the project.


That's all.
Last edited by Cameron Palte on Thu Apr 17, 2014 12:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Dennis P Brown
Posts: 3160
Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 10:46 am
Real name: Dennis Brown

Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Dennis P Brown »

Good luck and learn how to use the search function on the site to review the extensive database that answers what a fusor is, the type of power supply, dangers associated with fusors, issues of parts and vacuum systems and far more.
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Rich Feldman
Posts: 1470
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:59 pm
Real name: Rich Feldman
Location: Santa Clara County, CA, USA

Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Rich Feldman »

Welcome, Cameron.
Also look up the Private Message feature here at fusor.net.
Let me know if you need a neon sign transformer for the demo fusor stage of your project.
I'm about to put many NST's up under Trading Post,
but only for local pickup in Los Altos or San Jose.
All models are wrong; some models are useful. -- George Box
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Dennis P Brown
Posts: 3160
Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 10:46 am
Real name: Dennis Brown

Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Dennis P Brown »

Hello and welcome.
As someone building an accelerator, I agree that a fusor is far more fun.
However, just a fusor is rather 'old hat' as a science fair winner for the top levels. I'd suggest maybe looking to add a new feature (a new type of detector, or ion gun) or study of new aspects of the physics (addressing the issue of Bremsstrahlung radiation (which is a killer for larger machines) or a study related to capture cross sections of the ions) but just building a working fusor (even with neutrons) isn't likely to win top honors - just saying.
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