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: High pressure D2 fusion
Date: Oct 30, 1:10 pm
Poster: Scott Stephens

On Oct 30, 1:10 pm, Scott Stephens wrote:

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>>You only are taking into account the force of electrostatic acceleration. Does current cause acceleration too?
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>No, Absolutely not!

???

>To get the charges in motion...potential is required.

You mean if I have a conductor (plasma) and pulse a magnetic field (the curl of current) with no potential present, no charges will be put in motion, and no pondermotive force will be experienced? You really sure about that?

>The potential they fall through determines the kinetic energy of the individual particles.

Isn't the magentic field also included?

>You can't have any current without charges being in motion somewhere and thus a potential gradient must exist.

In superconductors

>In the case of a thousand amp arc in gas if the potential drop is only 13 volts, that is all the ions have is 13ev of energy.

Your reasoning:
You must have a potential for a current to exist
current is proportional to potential
more potential more energy

My reasoning:
Energy and force are mediated by electric AND magnetic fields
Charges in motion have a current
Charges have a current they magnetic moment
Magnetic fields accelerate magnetic moments
No potential needed, in fact a potential is an indicator of resistance or energy loss. The less potential the better for magnetic acceleration

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>>Lets not forget Amperian longitudinal forces,
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>Amperian forces are significant only at extreme currents of 100 amps or more. Major amperian pondermotive forces are rarely encountered under 1000 amps. The lamps in question are just a few amps.

When Hundreds or thousands of volts are dropped across a few milli-ohm plasma, the current would be >10 KA.

Scott