deebs
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So I was killing this pig with a hammer
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Post by deebs on Dec 13, 2022 3:09:32 GMT
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Lizard
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I love ploughmans
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Post by Lizard on Dec 13, 2022 3:44:17 GMT
The scientific breakthrough I would most like to see in my lifetime. Should probably read the article first though...
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minimatt
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hyper mediocrity
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Post by minimatt on Dec 13, 2022 5:47:57 GMT
I guess the note of caution is in the quote
"Prof Justin Wark, professor of physics at the University of Oxford, added that while, in principle, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory could produce such a result about once a day, a fusion power plant would need to do it 10 times a second."
... but still, yeah, reasons to be cheerful
... and in the reasons to be pessemistic column: we already have the technology to cheaply replace all our fossil fuel electricity generation in the form of renewables. The engineering is orders of magnitude easier than fusion, and the cost is orders of magnitude cheaper to setup than fusion. We have chosen instead to procrastinate and dither. We have chosen to let children freeze to death, claiming it's too difficult to roll out widespread renewables. I don't envisage rolling out fusion infrastructure to be cheaper and easier in the short to medium term, so for now we'll continue to let children freeze to death. |
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MolarAm🔵
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Bad at games
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Dec 13, 2022 5:48:49 GMT
Finally, an energy-efficient way to boil the kettle for my daily cup of tea!
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Post by kingbambino on Dec 13, 2022 7:39:28 GMT
Remix to Ignition. Bastard was right all along
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nazo
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Post by nazo on Dec 13, 2022 9:05:23 GMT
Can we use it to make bombs? That would encourage more urgent development. It sounds like it's still a long way off being usable, we'll all be living underwater before we can get any power plants working with it?
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Post by RadicalRex on Dec 13, 2022 9:14:24 GMT
Yeah we're probably many decades off if not more. The planet is fucked by then. As for bombs, well we have hydrogen bombs since the 1950s.
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sport✅
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notice me senpai
I want to claim my tits
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Post by sport✅ on Dec 13, 2022 9:16:33 GMT
First they create a black hole at CERN, now they create a sun in California. What further cosmic horrors will these scientists unleash?
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Post by Fake_Blood on Dec 13, 2022 9:21:42 GMT
Of course it can be used to make bombs. Nuclear testing moved underground, and completely stopped somewhere in the 80s I think, because it was thought that they had enough data to move the testing to simulations on super computers. NIF started somewhere in 2012 iirc based on those computer simulations, and it turned out that those didn't really work. Took them 10 years to resolve the issues. But yes, igniting deuterium without having to set off a nuclear bomb first also has military applications.
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sport✅
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notice me senpai
I want to claim my tits
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Post by sport✅ on Dec 13, 2022 9:25:20 GMT
So we could possibly fire a Sun into someone?
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Post by grey_matters on Dec 13, 2022 9:25:44 GMT
It can't be a process that's isn't radioactive though, can it? There'll be a containment shell somewhere that, by necessity, its made from heavy metals. And this will be bombarded all day long for whatever number of days is its lifetime by extremely energetic particles/atoms. Which leads to a radioactive isotope. Probably a lot easier* to deal with than fusion fuel and byproducts but still radioactive. Its awesome news but unless things have changed massively in the last 10 years the above is also true.
*I have no idea on this, could be even worse
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Post by Fake_Blood on Dec 13, 2022 9:55:16 GMT
The walls of a Tokamak are made from Beryllium which has the property of releasing tritium when bombarded with neutrons, which they need for the reaction to happen more easily. The problem with Beryllium, besides being super expensive, is that it contains a very small amount of uranium (0,01%), and when you bombard that with neutrons you get nasty stuff. So basically the walls become radioactive over time, but with a half-life of about 100 years, not 100.000 years.
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Gruf
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Post by Gruf on Dec 13, 2022 11:02:24 GMT
Awesome! Cue the Conservatives rushing to open more coalmines.
When do we get the Star Trek food replicator then? Hurry up, I'm an old bastard
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Tomo
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Post by Tomo on Dec 13, 2022 13:55:15 GMT
The scientific breakthrough I would most like to see in my lifetime. Yeah, exactly this. If there's one area that $$$$$ should be ploughed, it's fusion. I've been keeping an eye on the energy-in energy-out progress since my physics days at uni and this latest story is really really awesome news. Wouldn't be surprised if in another 10 years or so, industry begins to see it as viable enough to wade in and drive mega money into it. Think th planet could do with that investment right now mind... |
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kal
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Post by kal on Dec 13, 2022 13:59:08 GMT
What a massive coincidence it is that we’ve had the scientific breakthrough at the exact moment we most needed it. There must be a god.
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Goban
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Post by Goban on Dec 13, 2022 14:27:01 GMT
But which one...
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pizzacrunch
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Post by pizzacrunch on Dec 13, 2022 14:52:45 GMT
Not Superman, that's for sure. |
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Dec 13, 2022 16:31:33 GMT
Can we use it to make bombs? That would encourage more urgent development. It sounds like it's still a long way off being usable, we'll all be living underwater before we can get any power plants working with it? The laboratory that developed this breakthrough started out with nuclear weapons testing and is still partly funded by Homeland Security and other departments closely related to the military, so...
Also, this laboratory has to report major breakthroughs from time to time to keep its funding. We'll see if the latest one turns out to actually have been significant or not. But don't expect much in the next decade.
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Post by harrypalmer on Dec 13, 2022 16:38:24 GMT
That's nice.
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Post by gamingdave on Dec 13, 2022 16:48:32 GMT
It's clearly a milestone passed, but sounds like we are still a long long way from the end goal. I found some of the info in here useful
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Lukus
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Post by Lukus on Dec 13, 2022 17:32:15 GMT
I don't think it's a coincidence that Doc Ock was in this timeline recently.
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Lizard
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I love ploughmans
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Post by Lizard on Dec 13, 2022 17:50:13 GMT
The scientific breakthrough I would most like to see in my lifetime. Yeah, exactly this. If there's one area that $$$$$ should be ploughed, it's fusion. I've been keeping an eye on the energy-in energy-out progress since my physics days at uni and this latest story is really really awesome news. Wouldn't be surprised if in another 10 years or so, industry begins to see it as viable enough to wade in and drive mega money into it. Think th planet could do with that investment right now mind... Absolutely. Should be treated like the Manhatten Project or the COVID vaccines. |
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deebs
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So I was killing this pig with a hammer
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Post by deebs on Dec 13, 2022 19:41:15 GMT
... and in the reasons to be pessemistic column: we already have the technology to cheaply replace all our fossil fuel electricity generation in the form of renewables. The engineering is orders of magnitude easier than fusion, and the cost is orders of magnitude cheaper to setup than fusion. We have chosen instead to procrastinate and dither. We have chosen to let children freeze to death, claiming it's too difficult to roll out widespread renewables. I don't envisage rolling out fusion infrastructure to be cheaper and easier in the short to medium term, so for now we'll continue to let children freeze to death.
Normally I'd agree, but we're living in a world where some truly shit regimes control our energy and wrestling that power away from them would be frankly hilarious. And more than a little bit of a coincidence at this time. |
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Post by Fake_Blood on Dec 13, 2022 20:58:35 GMT
Renewables aren't going to cut it if we want to do stuff like large scale desalination and/or CO2 scrubbing.
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Dec 13, 2022 22:15:44 GMT
That is completely wrong. Renewables are perfect for these tasks, because they fluctuate wildly, which means there are times when they produce more than is needed, and this energy can be used for desalination or electrolysation.
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Post by damagedinc on Dec 13, 2022 22:18:06 GMT
Prob looking at least 50 years before it would be in "our homes" but a massive step forward.
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Post by damagedinc on Dec 13, 2022 22:20:08 GMT
The more viable it becomes the private investor interest will follow and we may speed it up. Bit like space travel
Shame musk spent so much on twitter haha
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deebs
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So I was killing this pig with a hammer
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Post by deebs on Dec 13, 2022 23:16:33 GMT
Prob looking at least 50 years before it would be in "our homes" but a massive step forward. Current estimations put it at 10 years, thanks to Russia speeding the energy crisis along. In the US anyway, no idea what it'll be like elsewhere. Sort of wondering if it'll be our extinction event firewall moment, or whether we're past that with radioactive nuclear stuff. |
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Lizard
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Post by Lizard on Dec 14, 2022 0:05:19 GMT
With fusion we'll be able to harness a vast amount of mustard and instantly apply it to almost every anus on the planet.
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Post by Fake_Blood on Dec 14, 2022 6:48:40 GMT
That is completely wrong. Renewables are perfect for these tasks, because they fluctuate wildly, which means there are times when they produce more than is needed, and this energy can be used for desalination or electrolysation. We’re talking about different things here, I meant Kardashev type 1 levels of power, where everyone’s basic needs are met and we can grow tomatoes in the Sahara desert. |
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