MAJOR ENERGY BREAKTHROUGH - Making Energy As Hot As A Star

[metta]

NIF will be able to create conditions and conduct experiments never before possible on Earth, according to the laboratory.

A fusion reaction triggered by the super laser hitting hydrogen atoms will produce more energy than was required to prompt "ignition," according to NIF director Edward Moses.

"This is the long-sought goal of 'energy gain' that has been the goal of fusion researchers for more than half a century," Moses said.

"NIF's success will be a scientific breakthrough of historic significance; the first demonstration of fusion ignition in a laboratory setting, duplicating on Earth the processes that power the stars."

"This one-of-a-kind facility is the only place in the world that is capable of providing some of the most critical technical means to safely maintain the viability of the nation's nuclear stockpile."

Scientists say that NIF also promises groundbreaking discoveries in planetary science and astrophysics by recreating conditions that exist in supernovas, black holes, and in the cores of giant planets.

Electricity derived from fusion reactions similar to what takes place in the sun could help sate humanity's growing appetite for green energy, according to lab officials.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2009053...litarylaser;_ylt=AhKGTZX_ZKDHtstIEnQTLqsDW7oF

 

[frankfrank]

So, where in the heck IS this story in the news?

I'm waiting to hear anything about it, anywhere in the mainstream media!

If this becomes viable, it will rival such innovations as the airplane, computers, farming, and radio in the history of human civilization.

Maybe the media are taking a wait-and-see approach?

 

[metta]

Maybe we can get Britney to play with the laser so that it will make it to the news.

 

[Edward Twinkletoes]

Well ok then.

Just waiting to see if this will be modified as a weapon.

Isn't that a matter of when, rather than if? When I first heard about this, my first thought was "Great. Just what we need. Another way to vaporize ourselves".

 

[2243]

Well ok then.

Just waiting to see if this will be modified as a weapon.

But it already is a weapon.

It was unveiled by a US weapons Lab.

 

[crzyrazn]

Behold! The advent of the Death Star!

 

[metta]

Well, I would like to know what direction they will be going.

I want to know if they will work on using it to develop an earth friendly, without the toxic waste that nuclear energy has, and safer means of generating electricity.

If that is what they are doing and it is viable, I think that we should invest trillions into getting this going. It is too bad we did not discover this 50 years ago. Imagine how much healthier our environment could have been.

 

[Aggeryt]

I hear the Footsteps of Doom.

Some experiemtn will go horribly awry opening up a portal into some hellspace dimension and well be overun with horrific monsters eager to claim our planet in their plague like advance through the mulitverse.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

...says someone who knows nothing about physics

 

[thermodynamics]

Fusion is best served cold.

Hah. Funny.

The principle is the same as that used in a thermonuclear or H-bomb. This is fusion, not fission which is found in conventional nuclear reactors or the original atomic bomb.

Viable fusion electric power has always been about twenty years off in the future, for the last 50 years. But if we do ever figure it out, it will be a great source of energy. Hydrogen in -> Helium out, without any bad radioactive or climate change stuff. And, the product of the reaction can be used to blow up a lot of balloons!