Reply To: Physics Nobel to Big Bangers

[Aeronaut]

zapkitty wrote:

I hate to be a wet blanket … but half a joule per pinch, even at a 100 hz firing rate, is just 50 Watts …

I guess it’s the demonstration of any net energy, no matter how small, that counts.

Wouldn’t “net” energy be any yield that exceeded the cap’s input energy?

I’d assume, perhaps mistakenly, that at this point they’re just getting started on the “we have fusion” part… with actual net power yields coming later.

edit: “started” for “stared”

To split hairs, repeatably producing more energy than the cap bank supplied (not contained at the beginning) just might count for the historic first of over-unity operation, provided it is presented in the context of a one-shot fusion research reactor. Still very flimsy to build a headline ariund. I’d use that well-documented accomplishment as at least one ace in the hole.