Fusion Message Board

In this space, visitors are invited to post any comments, questions, or skeptical observations about Philo T. Farnsworth's contributions to the field of Nuclear Fusion research.

Subject: Re: Different gird design
Date: Mar 10, 0:55 am
Poster: Jim Lux

On Mar 10, 0:55 am, Jim Lux wrote:

>Ok, I've been just looking at this post and a couple of the sites and found it very interesting but i have not built one yet and have little education on the subject but there is an idea that i made up. When building the fusor i've

> -kevin

The velocity of the ions isn't affected (much) by the length of the path. The factor which determines the velocity (energy) is the voltage difference they move through. So, more velocity ( to get higher yield) needs more voltage.

BUT.. more voltage, at a given spacing, means more likelihood of a arc discharge, so you need more spacing.

BUT.. more spacing means the ion is moving farther on it's way to the middle, which means that you need lower pressure, so it doesn't run into something on the way towards the middle.

Fortunately, less pressure means you can run more voltage (to a point)...

However, the rate is also proportional to the ion current, and reducing the pressure reduces the current for a given voltage.

It's all a big tradeoff... and breakeven is probably not a realistic near term goal. [let the flames begin] OTOH, as several have found, fusion of some sort most certainly is.

The "casual fusorite" (i.e. someone who doesn't do it as a full time job) can make a significant contribution the overall effort by aiding in getting good characterization of the voltage/current/pressure/fusion rate relationships. All the theoretical models in the world are of no value without some empirical experimental data to check them against.