Scientists aim to replicate the Sun

[UM-Bot]

Scientists aim to replicate the power of the Sun in a new nuclear fusion experiment involving laser beams being fired at a tiny pellet of hydrogen. The set up is capable of generating 500 trillion watts, and if successful could pave the way for a future where clean energy is available in almost unlimited quanitites to everyone.

"Scientists in California say they're trying to replicate the power of the sun by firing laser beams at a tiny pellet of hydrogen. Physicists at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore say the nuclear fusion experiments may offer the world a clean source of energy, The Times of London reported Sunday. The hydrogen pellet will be hit with 192 laser beams capable of generating 500 trillion watts -- 1,000 times the power of the U.S. national grid, said the scientists."

View: Full Article | Source: UPI

[Black Red Devil]

Its only a matter of time before Science provides humanity with the necessary provisions and remedies to overcome the greed and exploitation of mankind by Governments and large Corporations.

Take 2:

Its only a matter of time before Science provides Governments and large Corporations..............

[heinrich1858]

Fusion would be great , but I doubt the power would be very cheap . A few government taxes and corporate profit margins and were back to where we were before .

[blobs]

Take 2:

Its only a matter of time before Science provides Governments and large Corporations..............

That is oh so true. Although this could be wonderful for mankind, it'll just be turned into another profitable endevor for the rich and powerful... /sigh

[:PsYKoTiC:BeHAvIoR:]

I have scenes of Spider-Man 2 flashing before me.

I don't want to even think of what applications the military could benefit from this.

[The Silver Thong]

No such thing as free, no matter what we will be taxed up the ying yang for it. Go green......................... ya sure lol

[Lt_Ripley]

No such thing as free, no matter what we will be taxed up the ying yang for it. Go green......................... ya sure lol

taxes is one thing. what steams me is the corporations. never a profit high enough.

example ( because I've had to deal of late with crappy AT&T since my phone had gone out and intermittent problems with phone and dsl since they ' fixed ' it. week 2 , they should be out today sometime between 8 and 5 . this is the same problem for the 4th time in 6 months. it's the lines outside in the alley. they 'fix' them piece meal.) AT&T has the market here in Detroit.

I call the number listed to talk to a tech , that takes me to another country ( they are not allowed to say where) where AT&T is paying someone squat. great savings for AT&T, none passed to the consumer and an American out of a job.

Edited March 18, 2009 by Lt_Ripley

[The Original Chupa King]

Just remember, if the experiment goes wrong, we won't need to worry about that Hadron Collider anymore.

[Stormcrow]

UHOH

At least we're all going to die excited.

Edited March 18, 2009 by Ebonykrow

[fenris1011]

UHOH

At least we're all going to die excited.

Dr. Octopus is going to kill us all. I knew he was behind it.

[Space Commander Travis]

"clean energy available in almost unlimited quantities"? I don't trust these Scientists. It'll probably work about as well as that Hadron Collider thing.

Edited March 18, 2009 by 747400

[+DieChecker]

They say in the article:

We hope the ignition experiments will show that we can generate more power than we put in

If not then it is not a energy producer, it is a energy loss.

Those power stations would use hydrogen atoms extracted from sea water as fuel

And how exactly is that going to happen? Throw a balloon in the water and it fills with hydrogen? No. Just collecting the hydrogen could eat up any small amounts of energy produced.

[swanks]

I call the number listed to talk to a tech , that takes me to another country ( they are not allowed to say where) where AT&T is paying someone squat. great savings for AT&T, none passed to the consumer and an American out of a job.

Ha, i know of this same problem, alot of companys in australia do it now, and its crap. I can't even understand them half the time. bah

[TheResearcher]

They say in the article:

If not then it is not a energy producer, it is a energy loss.

And how exactly is that going to happen? Throw a balloon in the water and it fills with hydrogen? No. Just collecting the hydrogen could eat up any small amounts of energy produced.

As far as I am aware, correctly working fusion would produce significantly more energy that what is required to collect hydrogen via electrolysis. The only worry I have right now is how they deal with the high energy neutron produced as one of the products. It's probably already been solved now though.

[Wickian]

Its only a matter of time before Science provides humanity with the necessary provisions and remedies to overcome the greed and exploitation of mankind by Governments and large Corporations.

Take 2:

Its only a matter of time before Science provides Governments and large Corporations..............

Yeah your take 2 is a much more realistic outcome. With our current system, even if they somehow managed to create a free energy device that can power the world, they would either scrap the idea for not being profitable or charge you anyway.

[As a Matter of Fact]

We are far from that becoming a reality. And if it did the oil companies are probably (if not already doing so) going to lobby against it. The only way is for the government to become dominated by a new leadership which would infringe upon the constitution of the US. Than new laws can be applied and all the corporations would be powerless to do anything about it.

It's a great idea. I was always a firm believer that in order for Earth to enter the next age (say a Star Trek age) that we would have to use Nuclear energy in one form or another. Hopefully by the time they master it there won't be a danger of using it. Space travel will be capable and we would be able to travel further than we can imagine. But before any of this could be done, first all governments and their people would have to leave behind certain ideas which are causing the world to be at odds with each other. That's probably going to be more of a puzzle to solve than actually using Nuclear energy to run the world. : )

[Samuronin]

Reminds me of Spiderman 2

[3rd rock resident alien]

Sun = God.

[Samuronin]

"The Power of the sun, at the palm of my hand" Doc Oct

[MysteryVy]

"The power of the sun...in the palm of my hand"

[BaneSilvermoon]

Fusion would be great , but I doubt the power would be very cheap . A few government taxes and corporate profit margins and were back to where we were before .

If they work that out, even if it wasn't a cost saving for the consumer it would still be a far better choice than what we're doing now.

Edited March 19, 2009 by BaneSilvermoon

[Blueguardian]

"clean energy available in almost unlimited quantities"? I don't trust these Scientists. It'll probably work about as well as that Hadron Collider thing.

It shall work much better, this time half the world will probably be destroyed.

In other news Scientists are trying to create something that will help the world, but will probably just create another problem.

[War Eagle]

Scientists aim to replicate the power of the Sun in a new nuclear fusion experiment involving laser beams being fired at a tiny pellet of hydrogen.

The set up is capable of generating 500 trillion watts, and if successful could pave the way for a future where clean energy is available in almost unlimited quanitites to everyone.

"Scientists in California say they're trying to replicate the power of the sun by firing laser beams at a tiny pellet of hydrogen. Physicists at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore say the nuclear fusion experiments may offer the world a clean source of energy, The Times of London reported Sunday. The hydrogen pellet will be hit with 192 laser beams capable of generating 500 trillion watts -- 1,000 times the power of the U.S. national grid, said the scientists."

View: Full Article | Source: UPI

Watts the catch?

Appears like a classic example of; If it sounds too good to be true...

In any case, forget a replicable sun...try to replicate ground-soaking rain, my neighbor's cows starting to look like beef jerky.

Edited March 19, 2009 by REBEL

[magickaldan]

Unless there's some new way of converting heat to electricity this wont be any more efficient than a Normal Fission Reactor Nuclear Power Plant. Which are at a best of 33% efficient at converting heat into electricity. Every system has losses and there's no way around that. You can decrease the losses but never get rid of them fully. The goal should be trying to increase Efficiency of the current systems.

[qkrtjddnr0_0]

They say in the article:

If not then it is not a energy producer, it is a energy loss.

And how exactly is that going to happen? Throw a balloon in the water and it fills with hydrogen? No. Just collecting the hydrogen could eat up any small amounts of energy produced.

its probably because its in an experimental phase. if it got to be commercialized of course it would be operated at a bigger scale and more effectively. and the energy comes from nuclear fusion, and compared with the energy needed to extract hydrogen... isn't a comparison really...