I’m not surprised the schedule (such as it was) has slipped. I do hope there are no more major equipment difficulties to contend with.

Some interesting slides in Part 4/4 at 4:11 that weren’t really covered. I take it the planned diagnostics are for the switch to pB11?

The axial field coil is working again. We fired some shots on Saturday, but ran out of fill gas for the switches (oops) so we had to stop. After getting a new tank today, we’re good to go. pB11 is still a little ways off, hopefully by January. Finishing with the switches is next, followed by figuring out the current bumps and output relationships. We need to get the pinch and max current to coincide and have that happen sooner. We need to ramp up the voltage without prefiring and get to higher currents. We have lots of data to analyze, but lots of other things are also going on (papers to write, people to call, etc.). It would be nice to have a big crew of physicists and engineers to help share the load. We decided we need several clones of ourselves.

AaronB wrote: We have lots of data to analyze, but lots of other things are also going on (papers to write, people to call, etc.). It would be nice to have a big crew of physicists and engineers to help share the load. We decided we need several clones of ourselves.

You could make a call for other people to help you as volunteers.

BTW, I think a comment of mine to which you answered was deleted. Why?

I am watching the video now. Just want to point out that Eric makes some claims that will be attacked by skeptics immediately, such as that the plasmoid-like process is occurring in quasars, solar flares, atmospheric sprites. He will probably have to defend this position with references to peer reviewed papers. If anyone can provide those, please go ahead.

Breakable wrote: I am watching the video now. Just want to point out that Eric makes some claims that will be attacked by skeptics immediately, such as that the plasmoid-like process is occurring in quasars, solar flares, atmospheric sprites. He will probably have to defend this position with references to peer reviewed papers. If anyone can provide those, please go ahead.

Yes, the more peer-reviewed references we have, the better.

We can turn this into a table showing the claim on the one side, and the many external references to back it up on the other.

Notice this article is short of references:

Theoretical basis for anticipated yield

The first two variables in Figure 2 above (increasing current) are based on LPP’s theory, but they are backed up by extensive experiment [links needed]. So far, LPP has been achieving much faster scaling, almost I^7.

The third item (optimization of axial magnetic field) is also based on LPP’s theory, but requires experimental verification.

For changing the fuel to pB11, the first two variables LPP is certain of, and are based on well-established measurements by others. [links needed]

The third item (additional compression for pB11 with a DPF) is also based on LPP’s theory, which has to be experimentally verified.

We need to do better on this site at connecting to research. Help us fill in the blanks above. I’m sure some of you have access to dozens of quality, peer reviewed references for each theoretical basis point above. We don’t just want random references, but the quality ones that speak specifically to the issue. And a bit of expertise in pointing out the portion of the paper that speaks to it would also add immense value.

The more corroboration on various points, the better.

One issue, in particular (speaking of the video), Mike Brown from Swarthmore was visiting last week. He asked about references for the movement of the filaments around the electrode heads. Eric supplied a few, but we could always use more.

FYI, Eric has pledged to give me a stack of his references and explain how they link to each claim – but that could take a while, and there are more important things for them to be doing than revisit the literature. Hence the outsourcing here. Again, let’s go above and beyond the links already in Eric’s papers. We’re calling for a wider literature search here.