It seems to me that we may, to some extent, be following in the footsteps of the "big fusion" guys.
If you think about it, fusion, whether it be in a tokomac or a fusor, is a game of finessing physical quantities - electrostatic forces, nuclear forces, etc. The sole exception to this is the nuclear cross section.
The nuclear cross section is not a physical quantity, but rather an observed quantity. It is based on firing particles together and seeing how often they fuse. The reason I say that the fusor is "maybe" the best way to create fusion is that I believe the success of fusion depends on changing the effective cross section of the fuel.
We can't afford (literally) to fall into the trap of adding power to get higher neutron counts. Although we might get higher counts, I think there is greater potential in trying to sidestep the nuclear cross section to achieve better efficiency, and it would be a real possibility to make serious contributions to the cause.
Created on Sunday, December 10, 2000 12:10 PM EDT by Clay G Codner