Reply To: $40million raised for boron fusion

[AaronB]

MTd2, fusion requires high temperatures, high density, and enough confinement time for the particles to collide. If you have a higher temperature, the density or confinement time can be less, and you will still maintain the same amount of fusion going on. As the report said, the plasmoids were hotter than expected, and also either smaller or less dense than anticipated. Due to the limitations of the instruments, we don’t know for sure which it is, or maybe a combination of both. Either way, as the report also says, “That is exactly the scaling observed so far, and the absolute number of fusion reactions is just as predicted.” Once we start firing shots again with the better detectors, we’ll be able to see exactly what’s going on. I wouldn’t throw in the towel just yet. Things aren’t as bad as one isolated variable may seem to indicate.