Re: duty cycle of a square wave distortion
More questions for walters to ask :bigok:
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Q: I wonder why radiation concerns are not mentioned in published articles about the period when when ITT and Dr. F were working together. The pictures show no radiation suits on the experimentors, no gadgetry around which would be related to that.
A: These people had a special shielded "cave" to work in. The most productive fusors were also tested in a shielded "pit." No radiation suits were needed because the tests were run at relatively low power levels, and the personnel was isolated from the Device Under Test by either the "cave" or the "pit."
Q. What are the by-products of a fusion reactor?
A: The combination of hydrogen atoms produces helium, an inert gas; the mass of the helium atoms being less than the mass of the combinant hydrogren atoms, the difference is given off as energy according to Einstein's famous formual E=MC2. The energy is transferred to neutrons which are thrown out of the reaction at different rates, and also protons. There is also some tritium produced, which has radioactive half life of twelve years.
Q: How did they solve the problem of introducing new fuel into the chamber?
A: They didn't, really, so far as we know, although there are some tantalizing stories about " startling and unexplained" events in the Fusor lab that suggest the problem may have solved itself on undocumented occasions.
Q: What does the fusor use for fuel?
A: Fusors usually run on deuterium gas. More advanced experiments can use tritium, which is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. As such tritium is highly regulated an unavailable for unsanctioned fusion experiments. In the future a fusor could run on He3 or Boron.
Q: I thought temps in the 200,000 degree range were required to cause fusion, how did DR. F manage this with less?
A: Actually, the plasma within the fusor can reach at temperatures in the 20- 400 million degree range, depending on the fuel used. That such temperatures can be reached, and sustained for periods of several minutes, without destroying the fusor vessel is the magic of the "poissor," Farnsworth's name for the sheath of electrostatic shields that form within the fusor.
Q:Why didn't BYU continue his work after Farnsworth passed away?
A: Philo Farnsworth left ITT and relocated to Salt Lake in 1967 with the intention of continuing his fusion research, but a series of unfortunate business decisions conspired against his work and, ultimately, his life. At least one operative Fusor was given to BYU, but students and professors there could not continue work without Dr. Farnsworth hinmself. Farnsworth was a unique individual, a gifted scientist endowed with special insights into the inner workings of the atom - insights that he was at times unable to convey to his colleagues. a special man . Without his guidance the work ground to a halt.
Q: Do you need a patent to build one of these things?
A: The ITT Corporation suspended all work on fusors in 1968, after the Atomic Energy Commission's fusion department refused to provide any funding. The patents that Philo Farnsworth while employed by ITT expired in the mid-1980s, and are now part of the public domain, but the patents are regarded as "incomplete" and do not disclose a fully functional (i.e. net-energy generating) fusion device.
Likewise, the patent for the "Hirsch-Meeks" variation of the Farnsworth Fusor, which is the Fusor that the members of this site are experimenting with, also expired in the mid-1980s. Patents are granted for a non-renewable, 17-year term, after which the art disclosed therein enters the public domain. The Hirsch-Meeks patent was issued in 1968, and so would have expired in 1985. Consequently, none of the art being experimented with here is under any patent priority.
Q: Why can't I find anything in the library about this subject ?
A: There really is just not very much material available anywhere on the subject of inertial electrostatic confinement fusion.
Q: Why is neutron flux dangerous ?
A: Humans are in large proportion plain old water. If a neutron encounters and sticks to an ordinary water molecule it forms deuterium and releases a burst of gamma rays that causes genetic mutation and sometimes cell death.
Q. What is "Star Mode" ?
This question was submitted by Alex Sloat (07/11/2002). We turn to Richard Hull for the definitive answer and an illustration from his own fusor:
This is a visual signature of good clean operation of a fusor. It heralds a major, initial success in the construction of the basic device.
