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puts hair on ya chest (mander.xyz)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] 1 point 2 years ago (3 children)

I really wonder about fusion. Most of the news of energy production higher than energy input is about non-electricity fusion - the big tokamak fusion systems are not yet producing more power than they take to run, but scientists working on them are expecting good results soon

Like when I was a kid fusion was 20 years away and would always be 20 years away. Now it looks like it'll be 5 years away for a while

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (2 children)

    I like to follow fusion news whenever I see it, and I think the situation might be even worse than you’re describing, lol.

    The news about ignition and/or more energy out than in, that refers to the energy actually delivered to the sample versus the full energy released from the sample. So it doesn’t include all the energy needed to charge and fire the lasers that was lost along the way. And like you said, it’s the thermal power they’re measuring, and you lose a huge amount of that power when converting to electricity.

    I think we’re still firmly in the “fusion is 20/30 years away” cycle.

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