Stream of Stuff

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rstevenson
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by rstevenson » Wed Feb 03, 2016 11:32 pm

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:Has anyone ever theorized fusion in space? Our sun has and it seems to work fine.
Fusion requires being tightly bound physically and a lot of heat (energy). Gravity forms the "walls" inside the Sun to keep the fusion reaction contained, and the immense pressure creates the necessary heat. What would form those walls and provide the heat in open space?

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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Feb 03, 2016 11:46 pm

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:Has anyone ever theorized fusion in space? Our sun has and it seems to work fine.
You'll need to be more clear what you mean by that. Fusion as a practical energy source requires that it be sustained. That requires dense plasmas. Fusion of free particles in space must certainly occur, given the observed energy of even fairly weak cosmic rays. Most often, the result of cosmic ray collisions is spallation, a fission process (which as discussed elsewhere is believed responsible for most of the lithium, beryllium, and many light isotopes in the Universe). But statistically, fusion should happen occasionally. That is fusion in space, but it isn't useful as an energy source.
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Ron-Astro Pharmacist » Thu Feb 04, 2016 3:55 pm

Chris Peterson wrote:
Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:Has anyone ever theorized fusion in space? Our sun has and it seems to work fine.
You'll need to be more clear what you mean by that. Fusion as a practical energy source requires that it be sustained. That requires dense plasmas. Fusion of free particles in space must certainly occur, given the observed energy of even fairly weak cosmic rays. Most often, the result of cosmic ray collisions is spallation, a fission process (which as discussed elsewhere is believed responsible for most of the lithium, beryllium, and many light isotopes in the Universe). But statistically, fusion should happen occasionally. That is fusion in space, but it isn't useful as an energy source.
I was pondering how much difficulty gravity has been in making a containment field for sustained fusion.

So to say - If the experiment from Beyond's post was able (a big if?) to be done in a low gravity environment would it be easier to accomplish?

Maybe for a fusion rocket or to beam energy from orbit to Earth.
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Chris Peterson » Thu Feb 04, 2016 4:20 pm

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:I was pondering how much difficulty gravity has been in making a containment field for sustained fusion.
No difficulty at all. As you increase mass, you increase the density at the center of that mass. At some point it's high enough to support sustained fusion.
So to say - If the experiment from Beyond's post was able (a big if?) to be done in a low gravity environment would it be easier to accomplish?
No. Gravity isn't involved in that experiment at all. It uses another mechanism for confinement.
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by neufer » Thu Feb 04, 2016 7:59 pm

Chris Peterson wrote:
Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:
I was pondering how much difficulty gravity has been in making a containment field for sustained fusion.
No difficulty at all. As you increase mass, you increase the density at the center of that mass. At some point it's high enough to support sustained fusion.
I would have emphasized pressure (the primary factor for fusion power)
rather than simply density (the primary factor for fission power).
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Beyond » Thu Feb 04, 2016 8:56 pm

Oklo, a 2-billion year old natural nuclear reactor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS53AA_ ... 40&list=WL
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Chris Peterson » Thu Feb 04, 2016 11:53 pm

neufer wrote:
Chris Peterson wrote:
Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote: I was pondering how much difficulty gravity has been in making a containment field for sustained fusion.
No difficulty at all. As you increase mass, you increase the density at the center of that mass. At some point it's high enough to support sustained fusion.
I would have emphasized pressure (the primary factor for fusion power)
rather than simply density (the primary factor for fission power).
Pressure works for me, too. The two are mathematically related, so if you know the molar mass and the temperature, you can convert between the two.
Chris

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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Beyond » Tue Feb 23, 2016 4:21 am

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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Beyond » Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:07 am

To find the Truth, you must go Beyond.

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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Fred the Cat » Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:26 pm

Click to play embedded YouTube video.
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by neufer » Mon Mar 07, 2016 7:10 pm

Fred the Cat wrote:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.

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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Beyond » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:33 am

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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Beyond » Tue Mar 15, 2016 9:30 pm

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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Beyond » Thu Mar 17, 2016 10:08 am

When life hands you a lemon, don't make lemonade, make fire.
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Beyond » Sun Mar 20, 2016 12:27 am

A new type of bacteria has been discovered that eats plastic.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/wonder/s ... spartandhp
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Beyond » Sun Mar 20, 2016 7:25 pm

Domino's reveals it's new pizza delivery robot in Australia.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/tunedin/ ... spartandhp
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Chris Peterson » Sun Mar 20, 2016 11:57 pm

Beyond wrote:Domino's reveals it's new pizza delivery robot in Australia.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/tunedin/ ... spartandhp
Nobody would reasonably call the product that Domino's produces "pizza", so that can't be a pizza deliver robot. Perhaps it's a "pizzoid food product delivery device".
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Nitpicker » Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:29 am

By chance, I had some pizza from Domino's (in Oz) the other week (ordered online and delivered by someone who was probably human). The particular "gourmet" pizzas we ordered were surprisingly good and I remarked that they had significantly lifted their game, compared with past offerings.

(Of course, Chris, we have disagreed on Italian food before. There are probably a lot of things that I'd call pizza and you wouldn't.)

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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Mar 21, 2016 1:01 am

Nitpicker wrote:By chance, I had some pizza from Domino's (in Oz) the other week (ordered online and delivered by someone who was probably human). The particular "gourmet" pizzas we ordered were surprisingly good and I remarked that they had significantly lifted their game, compared with past offerings.

(Of course, Chris, we have disagreed on Italian food before. There are probably a lot of things that I'd call pizza and you wouldn't.)
Maybe in Oz you just have good enough taste to not tolerate what Domino's passes off as "pizza" here.
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Nitpicker » Mon Mar 21, 2016 1:09 am

I'm seeing a lot of (traditionally dreadful) fast food chains here in Oz, attempting to improve their menus, simply to stay in business. It appears that they can't survive on the diabetic welfare class alone -- they need the hipster youth market, too.

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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Mar 21, 2016 1:21 am

Nitpicker wrote:I'm seeing a lot of (traditionally dreadful) fast food chains here in Oz, attempting to improve their menus, simply to stay in business. It appears that they can't survive on the diabetic welfare class alone -- they need the hipster youth market, too.
Yeah, the same thing is happening here. A new class of "fast food" has drawn people- especially younger people- away from the traditional places. That's forcing those old chains to consider different menus and different presentations.
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Fred the Cat » Fri Apr 01, 2016 4:58 pm

I'm attracted to this concept though it could be repulsive to nuns.
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by Ann » Sun Apr 03, 2016 5:53 am

Fred the Cat wrote:I'm attracted to this concept though it could be repulsive to nuns.
Nice, Fred, I like it! :D

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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by geckzilla » Thu Apr 28, 2016 11:18 pm

Astronomy terrorist in a hedgehog onesie with a chocolate bomb. I have no further words.
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Re: Stream of Stuff

Post by BMAONE23 » Fri Apr 29, 2016 5:47 am

At least the police didn't kill this crazy person even though it could have been devastating if the device were real. I'm kinda surprised that they didn't shoot to kill

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