Reply To: A new way of generating electricity

[mchargue]

So here’s some of the relevant FF hypothesis re the major heat generation cycle, from the patent:

The higher atomic charge, Z, of B11 greatly increases the x-ray emission rate, which is proportional to Z.sup.2 making it difficult to achieve ignition, e.g., the point at which the thermonuclear power exceeds the x-ray emission. The present invention overcomes these difficulties using a detailed quantitative theory of the plasma focus, described below, and the high magnetic field effect (HMFE). This effect, first pointed out by McNally, involves the reduction of energy transfer from the ions to the electrons in the presence of a strong magnetic field. This in turn reduces the electron temperature and thus the bremsstrahlung emission.

It sounds as if the energy transfer between electrons and ions is being impeded by the magnetic field. (and that is, apparently, a good thing) In an earlier post I made, I linked to an article that described the same mechanism w.r.t shielding a spacecraft from the ‘solar wind’. (a plasma) The article describes the disparate effect that a magnetic field has on electrons, and (their formerly associated) ions.

For spacecraft engineers, this was an unexpected phenomenon, but it seems in line with the idea that a magnetic field can lessen the heat transfer to electrons, and decrease the bremsstrahlung radiative losses.

https://focusfusion.org/index.php/forums/viewthread/576/

What say, elders?