Wendelstein 7-X has succeeded in making hydrogen plasma

Community Tech Policy & News
#1

So, a while ago there was some buzz about the German Wendelstein 7-X Stellarator being used to create helium plasma. A stepping stone on the road to the ultimate goal of creating Hydrogen Plasma, and sustaining it. Well, it just succeeded in generating that Hydrogen Plasma. Getting humanity closer to having Fusion as a power source.

"Scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany have successfully conducted a revolutionary nuclear fusion experiment. Using their experimental reactor, the Wendelstein 7-X (W7X) stellarator, they have managed to sustain a hydrogen plasma – a key step on the path to creating workable nuclear fusion. The German chancellor Angela Merkel, who herself has a doctorate in physics, switched on the device at 2:35 p.m. GMT (9:35 a.m. EST).

As a clean, near-limitless source of energy, it’s no understatement to say that controlled nuclear fusion (replicating the process that powers the Sun) would change the world, and several nations are striving to make breakthroughs in this field. Germany is undoubtedly the frontrunner in one respect: This is the second time that it’s successfully fired up its experimental stellarator fusion reactor, a serious competitor to the tokamak model.

Last December, the team managed to suspend a helium plasma for the first time, and they’ve now achieved the same feat with hydrogen. Generating a hydrogen plasma is considerably more difficult than producing a helium one, so by producing and sustaining one in today’s experiment, even for just a few milliseconds, these researchers have achieved something truly remarkable.

As a power source, hydrogen fusion releases far more energy than helium fusion, which is why sustaining a superheated hydrogen plasma within a stellarator represents such a huge step for nuclear fusion research.

John Jelonnek, a physicist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, led a team that was responsible for installing the powerful heating components of the reactor. “We’re not doing this for us,” he told the Guardian, “but for our children and grandchildren.” "

All hail the great Wendelstein.

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#2

Praise Wendell. wait wrong thing. never mind. I am excited for this though.

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#3

Honestly, I think they got that thing out of @wendell's basement when he had a garage sale.

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#4

wouldnt surprise me

#5

well, lets hope that creating a small star won't fuck anything up...

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#6

what like it collapsing and making a black hole.

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#7

The likelihood of that happening is even less than Hilary legitimately winning those 6 coin tosses.

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#8

Replace small with cosmically insignificant and you are on the right track but still way to generous with your sizing comparison.

#9

Fortunately it would take a star at least 10x the size of our sun to create a black hole.

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#10

or it having a Chernobyl, that would be bad, also the fact that were trying to get quantum tunneling on earth, we don't know what kind of repercussions that could have

edit: A black hole with a reaction that small, that's impossible, but some kind of break in this reactor, that could be bad, VERY BAD

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#11

From my understanding a break or some other error like this is nothing compared to a usual nuklear plant.
The produced radiating byproducts are much simpler to handle (deuterium compared to what comes out of a chain reaction with uran) and there is no unlimited chainreaction that gets out of control if the machine brakes. Worst case would be a big melted pot with some radiating small elements with rather short decay times.

As far as I know.

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#12

Is that anything like teleportation? Because if science fiction has taught me anything, that could end very horribly.

#13

0.5 gramms wont harm anyone. Having a door slam into your face driven by a breeze has more energy and can do more harm.
Edit: They are not even aiming at star-like temperature.

#14

okay, but a lot of quantum phenomena that occur that we have in very little amounts on earth, and things that occur in great amounts in stars, I know this is going to INCREDIBLY small, but I am going to be a tad suspicious

#15

no, it's one of the reasons stars keep on reacting, it's where particles have a small chance of going through a boundary by displacing electrons and then replacing them thus "teleporting" it to the other side, the reason this can accour in the sun is because of it having so much mass that the chance of anomaly is very high, I THINK

#16

So, no chance of The Combine invading the earth?

Damn.

#17

maybe, maybe not, only time will tell...

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#18

I find the mass defect more interesting. Just think about it! We will use E = mc² for the first time to truly generate energy! Not just this "form energy type a to type b"-stuff. The real deal!