[MTd2]

Thank you for the compliment about my wedding! 🙂

Now, some questions:

1. In a plasma, you have a certain proportion of ions, which increases with temperature. When the plasmoid shrinks, its temperature goes up, and so the proportion of Ions. So, couldn’t the low volume of the plasmoid observed be mainly a consequence of the ions being scattered out of the plasmoid?

2. Protons and electrons will go in opposite directions and collide in higher and higher energies, so there should be extreme thermal losses (x-rays). How that is avoided?

[MTd2]

AaronB wrote: The merging loops keep it from becoming a chaotic mass, and there aren’t a lot of electrons lost in the process.

1.Won’t the realignment of filaments waste a lot of energy? Why?
2.How many electrons are lost in the process?
3.How can one show that the toroid is the most stable state?

[MTd2]

You forgot to explain the part of the “wasted electrons” I meant 1 or more toroids WITH wasted electrons 🙂

[MTd2]

AaronB wrote: There are two separate processes going on. First, the axial field coil is used to impart a small amount of spin to the plasma sheath so the filaments merge gently. After the filaments merge into a single filament, that new filament generates its own large magnetic field that compresses the filament, known as a z-pinch. At that point, the filament starts to coil like a spring or telephone cord. The coils attract each other and collapse into the smallest stable shape, a toroid. The toroid continues to shrink under its own massive theta-pinch forces, and when the conditions are right, the energetic ions get squeezed so hard that they begin to fuse. The high magnetic fields keep the ions and electrons from bouncing in all different directions, thus preventing the production of a lot of X-rays.

So there are 4 stages:

1. The axial field coil is used to impart a small amount of spin to the plasma sheath so the filaments merge gently.

2. The filaments merge into a single filament, that new filament generates its own large magnetic field that compresses the filament, known as a z-pinch. At that point, the filament starts to coil like a spring or telephone cord.

3. The coils attract each other and collapse into the smallest stable shape, a toroid.

4. The toroid continues to shrink under its own massive theta-pinch forces, and when the conditions are right, the energetic ions get squeezed so hard that they begin to fuse.

So, the problem is in the transition between 1 and 2. Right?

In my mind the problem is between 2 and 3. Why “a” toroid, and not 1 or more toroids with a lot of randomly wasted electrons?

[MTd2]

Why do you suppose I wouldn’t love to take part on that adventure! 🙂 May I get in the party with at least some skepticism and questions?

[MTd2]

I think this is a different case given that the stabilizing spin can strongly with the containment field.

[MTd2]

AaronB wrote: To understand how this works, you have to understand that charged particles like to follow magnetic lines. If there is no external magnetic field to guide the ions and electrons, they converge in a chaotic mess when the filaments combine, losing energy in the process. .

The LPP site says that the intensity of that magnetic field has the magnitude of earth’s, which is 0.5 gauss. The converging filaments is like an infinite solenoid. But the one inside the solenoid, near the equilibrium point, goes up to 1.2 billion gauss, that is 9 orders of magnitude higher and any bending of the solenoid would create a non-zero radial, whose projection on the perpendicular could locally disturb the guiding magnetic field. In this case, there would be chaos.

I still don’t see a solution for that.

[MTd2]

It might be an easy issue for you, but I cannot see a reason of why the filaments would not enter in a chaotic convergence around the supposed sweet spot. Have you ever twisted a string so much that the twists starts twisting around themselves? It soon becoms a chaotic mass. So, how can you assure me that a chaotic state won’t dominate around the equilibrium point? Chaos would ensue, and a lot of energy would be lost. Fiding an equilibrium point doesn’t seem a trivial question at all, at least for me.

[MTd2]

I don’t understand car analogies very well, although I have a car. But from what I got of the linked LPP website, the problem was finding the ideal angular momentum of the converging filaments.

So, what I really want to know if finding such angular momentum is turning out so troublesome that might lead focusfusion completely impractical for generating energy, and this is the cause for the delayed news.

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You mean that they are going to redo tests to post it again? I thought even though only 10 fired, it was enough to know that the plasmoid was not small enough and needed more fine tuning.

[MTd2]

But the report said there was something already to be reported.

[MTd2]

I googled for that and it asked me if I meant:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_compos_mentis

I am not confused, see:

https://focusfusion.org/index.php/site/article/lppx_updates_-_september/

[MTd2]

Hmm, I’m back… But the update was not done!

Is anything bad going on???

[MTd2]

I am at my parents’ apartment having a family gathering. But I just cannot stand the noisy talk! They are way are screaming!

[MTd2]

I am just back from the wedding! 😀 Hmm, I would really like an update!

[Author]

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