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: Tesla Coil
Date: Oct 04, 9:09 pm
Poster: PierceOn Oct 04, 9:09 pm, Pierce wrote:
>I appreciate your opinion Richard. However, with all due respect, could you please explain how the central reaction in the core of the fusor will *not* go to Maxwellian distribution, in light of the factors I have indicated? It is precisely because at the center of the fusor the particles are bumping into each other and exchanging energies that the probabilities turn themselves into a "bell curve."
Well, if you were firing ions at the center with external guns, with no electrical field in the center, you would be correct. However, that's not how a fusor does business -- you have a steep electrostatic well at the center of the device that pulls all the ions out of a Maxwellian distribution, at least in terms of total kinetic energy. You are right that they will have a maxwellian temp distribution, but you want to make that a cold distribution.
>The whole idea of a good fusor is to increase the area under the curve which can undergo the fusion. Get enough area and you go over unity. That's where increased fusor efficiency comes into play.
>
>How to achieve this (IEC, magnetic, pinch, atomic explosion) is where inventiveness and creativity come to play.
The way a fusor allegedly solves the problem is to move the reaction into velocity space, where the maxwellian distribution doesn't really matter, except as a potentially efficiency-robbing sideshow.
-p