What's Cool in Science This Week?

Started by bayonetbrant, January 09, 2017, 11:08:31 AM

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Pete Dero

Quote from: Gusington on December 14, 2022, 12:50:27 PM

I don't know if I will be around to see it become a reality.


You'll be around when they turn this in a weapon long before it is used for energy.  Maybe they can call this one Little Girl.


And about feeling old : I'm waiting for the next transit of Venus (11 December 2117) or the next return of Halley's Comet (28 July 2061).

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

ArizonaTank

Quote from: Pete Dero on December 14, 2022, 01:17:13 PM
Quote from: Gusington on December 14, 2022, 12:50:27 PM

I don't know if I will be around to see it become a reality.


You'll be around when they turn this in a weapon long before it is used for energy.  Maybe they can call this one Little Girl.


And about feeling old : I'm waiting for the next transit of Venus (11 December 2117) or the next return of Halley's Comet (28 July 2061).

I'm going to be the optimist and think that fusion power will change the world in a dramatic way. But my guess is that we are many decades, or half a century away from that.

As far as weapons. I have only a very fundamental, layman's understanding, but isn't fusion what drives thermonuclear weapons? And if so...does that mean we already have the "fusion bomb." It would be wonderful if someone can correct me.
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Pete Dero

Quote from: ArizonaTank on December 14, 2022, 01:52:09 PM
As far as weapons. I have only a very fundamental, layman's understanding, but isn't fusion what drives thermonuclear weapons? And if so...does that mean we already have the "fusion bomb." It would be wonderful if someone can correct me.

A fission-based bomb creates the extreme conditions necessary to initiate the fusion reaction, thus effectively acting as the detonator.  But that process is not easy to deploy for peaceful applications or energy generation but that might have changed now.

bobarossa

Once they've generated more energy than needed to create it they have to figure out a way to extract that energy (heat) in a manner that doesn't melt the extractor.  In other words, "so we've created a miniature sun in the building, how do extract the energy before the building catches fire?"

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Pete Dero


Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Windigo

Quote from: Gusington on December 14, 2022, 12:50:27 PM
Don't forget steam powered cars! Back around 1900 they powered cars with everything. And then Standard Oil had something to say and the rest is...

...

...anyway this fusion announcement is literally a once in a 1000 year thing. And I lived to see it, announced, anyway. I don't know if I will be around to see it become a reality.

That's what makes me feel old.

I understand. I won't be around when the sun goes nova-kabloey and that's sad. The coolest thing possible to see (well other than my 11th grade English teacher wearing a scoop-neck shirt leaning over my desk) and I don't get to see it  >:(
My doctor wrote me a prescription for daily sex.

My wife insists that it says dyslexia but what does she know.

Windigo

Quote from: bobarossa on December 14, 2022, 02:16:19 PM
Once they've generated more energy than needed to create it they have to figure out a way to extract that energy (heat) in a manner that doesn't melt the extractor.  In other words, "so we've created a miniature sun in the building, how do extract the energy before the building catches fire?"

solar panels....
My doctor wrote me a prescription for daily sex.

My wife insists that it says dyslexia but what does she know.

Pete Dero

Quote from: Windigo on December 15, 2022, 11:38:46 AM
I understand. I won't be around when the sun goes nova-kabloey and that's sad. The coolest thing possible to see (well other than my 11th grade English teacher wearing a scoop-neck shirt leaning over my desk) and I don't get to see it  >:(

Have I got good news for you : you won't miss it !!!

Bad news : because it will not happen.  Our sun will not go nova or supernova but will go white dwarf.

Our sun isn't massive enough to trigger a supernova. In order to create a supernova, a star needs about 10 times the mass of our sun.

In about 5 billion years, the sun will run out of hydrogen.
Gravitational forces will take over, compressing the core and allowing the rest of the sun to expand (it will envelope the inner planets, including Earth) and become a red giant (for about a billion years).
A shell of fusion hydrogen will form around the helium-filled core.

Then, the hydrogen in that outer core will deplete, leaving an abundance of helium. That element will then fuse into heavier elements, like oxygen and carbon, in reactions that don't emit as much energy. Once all the helium disappears, the forces of gravity will take over, and the sun will shrink into a white dwarf.

https://stardate.org/astro-guide/novae-and-supernovae

All the outer material will dissipate, leaving behind a planetary nebula.

Gusington

I thought I was the only white dwarf around :/

And Breezy at least you were around for the birth of the Sun 😎


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Windigo

Quote from: Gusington on December 15, 2022, 01:55:41 PM
I thought I was the only white dwarf around :/

And Breezy at least you were around for the birth of the Sun 😎

I was very privileged to witness that. I had to wear sunscreen with an SPF of 104
My doctor wrote me a prescription for daily sex.

My wife insists that it says dyslexia but what does she know.

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Sir Slash

I missed that one. But the birth of Jupiter was impressive, the Giant Red Spot was just a cute, little orange dot with a Happy Face on it. Like Thomas the Tank Engine but with clouds. Everybody watched it then Saturn showed-up with rings and, the excitement was over.
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.