Steampunk fusion

[unixronin]

The latest Popular Science has an article on an tiny little private outfit in Vancouver Burnaby, BC that's trying to build a mechanical fusion reactor ... it uses an array of 200 precisely synchronized steam-driven pistons to create a contracting spherical shockwave in a ball of molten lead-lithium alloy, which is spinning fast enough to create a void in the center into which deuterium-tritium plasma is injected.  It's not continuous fusion — the machine is supposed to complete one fusion cycle per second.

At first, reading the article, I just thought, "Surely this can't work" (though some physicist PopSci talked to says that in principle there's no technical reason it couldn't work).  But then it hit me .... it's a steampunk fusion reactor.

Which would make it totally awesome if it DID work ....

Comments

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

d_h put it so well I can but agree:

"My doubt meter has pegged. By so has my cool meter."

Yup. I doubt it'll work. But won't it be so astonishingly cool if it does?

[robbat2.livejournal.com]

What's the company? I'd like to check them out since they are in my neighbourhood.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

General Fusion. I brainfarted slightly when I typed Vancouver - the article says Burnaby BC, just off Government Street, "up the little spit of blacktop on Bonneville Place and across the parking lot from Shade-O-Matic blind manufacturers and wholesalers."

[robbat2.livejournal.com]

Ok, I know the spot. There's a Macstation in the same complex where I bought my previous laptop backpack since they were the last ones with stock. Just north of the Hwy there, is a reasonably hi-tech industrial park, so it's possible they are doing something real.

Looking at their webpage, their Management team is certiainly educated right:
http://www.generalfusion.com/management_team.php
Creo, Bell Labs, D-Wave
I've met Volker from that list, and he seemed on the level.

It's unfortunately a scam but here's info.

[mrmeval.livejournal.com]

http://www.generalfusion.com/t5_general_fusion.php

Re: It's unfortunately a scam but here's info.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Why do you say it's a scam? Evidence?

Re: It's unfortunately a scam but here's info.

[mrmeval.livejournal.com]

No direct evidence. The way the website is presented is nearly identical to several other scam energy websites. They don't really provide anything concrete.

1) Get some doddering ex-goverment scientist to proclaim you're a miracle.
2) Get lots of media coverage 'sticking' it to OPEC.
3) Write lots of fancy sounding papers.
4) Don't give out solid information.
5) Bounce a lot.

This does much better.
http://wsx.lanl.gov/mtf.html

Re: It's unfortunately a scam but here's info.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, as previously mentioned, I'll be REALLY surprised if their proposed mechanism works. And I don't plan on sending them any money, and I won't be surprised if the whole thing just fizzles out and quietly vanishes like Bogdan Maglich's 'Migma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migma)' neutral-beam fusion project.¹

But hey, what if it turns out to work? :)



[1] The last I heard about Migma, back around 1985 or so, was an OMNI magazine article that said he was believed to have obtained a massive USAF grant to develop it further and dropped out of sight behind government secrecy; Wikipedia says further development has been stalled since the 80s for lack of funding. Maglich is currently the CEO of HiEnergy Technologies, which produces diagnostic systems and bomb-sniffing technology based on neutron and gamma scattering.

speaking of steamgeekery

[rosencrantz23.livejournal.com]

I thought you might like this photoset of a steampunk mouse:

http://ifun.ru/view/48733

warning, the ad icons at the bottom of the photo gallery are NSFW.

Re: speaking of steamgeekery

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Oh, those are ads? I don't read Russian.

I've seen other steampunk mice before that I thought better, honestly. The one with the siicone-rubber eyeball in a glass flask was great.