Achieving Fusion…again! NIF surpass their own record for energy generated

[@21506ash]

Golden Diamond Laser Core. Sounds like the final upgrade of an item

[@tylerbuck9347]

I'm sayin 🤣🤣🤣

[@trc8197]

Platinum diamond league: golden core edition, the precursor.

[@pizzainc.1465]

Duolingo: You made it to the golden diamond laser fusor league!

[@matthewboire6843]

It basically is

[@gregorymorales1]

One day they'll realize it never required expensive materials, but no one would take the research seriously enough to invest if you say it can be done with pop rocks and sea salt

[@matthewkendall7791]

A reactor powered by shooting a gold and diamond capsule with 200 lasers sounds like a part of a sci-fi movie that would get rewritten for being too unrealistic.

[@melonensaft1337]

Well not anymore....😂

[@robertd2055]

Those oldschool superman villians were on their physics..

[@red.bread.redemption2]

Fusion cores and cells

[@Drekromancer]

I feel that. It honestly feels like fantasy to me, too. I could imagine hearing myths of a mad wizard, who focused magical rays through two pieces of metal encased in diamond to create a new sun.

[@nukima11]

Nano Diamond Batteries

[@brianmccracken4880]

I love that I might live long enough to see fusion power be a real thing.

[@edwardp4038]

With gene therapy and fusion technology you might live a long time bud

[@dreammaker9642]

@@edwardp4038oh god please no 😂 80 years for me take it or leave it 😂😂😂 I’m not going to tolerate my own species any longer than that 😂 I love you all but we very annoying, too taxing 😂 y’all can catch me up when you join me

[@deang5622]

I doubt it. It is always 50 years away and has been for the last 40 years.

[@schrodingerscat1863]

No you won't, trust me on this. There are huge numbers of scientific breakthroughs required and engineering challenges to overcome before fusion power generation becomes realistic. A realistic timeframe would be about 50 to 100 years away.

[@edwardp4038]

@@schrodingerscat1863 I’m 24 so by 74 maybe. Sounds cool to me

[@blackinferno57]

people think the fusion argument is "lets re-invent fire" forgetting that we're basically trying to figure out how to rub two sticks together the best at the moment

[@dr.floridamanphd]

Rocks work better. Creates a spark

[@blackinferno57]

@@dr.floridamanphd isn't the fusion equivalent of a rock just a hydrogen bomb? 😂

[@senraksenrak]

All power is is essentially heat and water as you get into it

[@blackinferno57]

@@senraksenrak but nuclear waste and carbon emissions are what they are as well, and that's the problem

[@bizudamarasengan]

Rods .... It's not made of wood

[@luke-il5nr]

Using gold and diamond makes it sound like a ridiculous crafting recipe from a Minecraft technological modpack

[@grain3880]

Oh yeah, tech reborn!! :D

[@vieilatome2257]

hbm and Gregtech FTW

[@Razorcarl]

Gregtech moment

[@vieilatome2257]

@@Razorcarl let's play gtnh

[@ananteshesha5788]

Bro theyre playing tekkit voltz wars

[@TheCerealkiller148]

"Do you people still use fossil fuels, or have you discovered crystallic fusion?" -Buzz Lightyear

[@confusedbakugo1373]

lets see, we got double As

[@rodolfomusillo103]

Well, you see, we still boiling water.

[@jimmymackelroy1714]

You people?!

[@sadplatinum7552]

@@rodolfomusillo103 🧑🏻‍🚀: "Wait, it's all boiling water?" 🔫👨🏻‍🚀: "Always has been."

[@HeyyyyMacarena]

Well, Russia still attempting to beat oil field fires by dumping kiddie pools worth of water on them from helicopters... so there's that..

[@T3chIdiot]

I live like 10 minutes from the lab, and my dad works there- I remember when I saw on the news and both of us were really happy

[@StawpNeal]

livermore for life brother

[@T3chIdiot]

@@StawpNeal yessirrr

[@StawpNeal]

@@T3chIdiot you got that ignition shirt?

[@howdy7143]

​@@StawpNealI'm on the other side of earth but today I'm a livermore son

[@jonslg240]

Did he tell you 30 years ago that fusion energy is only 20 years away? Then repeat that every 10 years, including now? 😂 I still don't believe they're 20 years away even now. I think it'll be 40 years before they get an actual plant up that generates electricity for the grid, if ever..

[@chrisgreen8702]

I used to work there. It was amazing to see the progress and the success at each mikestone. Shout out to Cryo team! Good work guys!

[@VapidFart]

Mikestone

[@deftones8717]

@@VapidFartMike Stone is a stand up guy! Lotta Mikes over there at that company, such as Mike Ock, and Mike Hunt. All swell fellas!

[@rizman69]

@@VapidFart i trained under Dr.Stone, best boss you could ask for he stood line a wall offering guidance through waves of complicated problems.

[@drinkdraincleaner]

@@VapidFart Dr. Mike Stone saved me and my family from a burning building. Thanks Dr. Mike Stone, I’ll always remember you!!

[@hanselito2416]

how many mike stones did you guys have? save some for the rest of us, the economy is hurting

[@albertiteracion4240]

The NIF's (National Ignition Facility) ICF (Inertial Confinement Fusion) Reactor achieved a Fusion Gain Factor of 154% (Q = 1.54), however, this is only the thermal energy created by the laser. The 3.15 MJ energy of the fusion was yielded from 2.05 MJ thermal energy created by the lasers. The lasers needed about 300 MJ of electrical energy to produce the needed 2.05 MJ thermal energy, which means there is actually only about 1% energy output compared to energy input as a whole.

[@alexturnbackthearmy1907]

Yeah, lasers arent exactly efficient...especially powerful ones. Cant use a somewhat efficient laser pointer tech if array will instantly melt.

[@matttzzz2]

Yeah this is clickbait garbage

[@holy_crusaderoftheholyland4713]

​@@matttzzz2Note: this video is about creating a reliable igniter. Not about the total output of a generator

[@holy_crusaderoftheholyland4713]

Note: this video is about creating a reliable igniter. Not about the total output of a generator

[@holy_crusaderoftheholyland4713]

​@@matttzzz2Note: this video is about creating a reliable igniter. Not about the total output of a generator

[@DJRaffa1000]

To be fair, the input energy is what the laser energy that rescued the capsule amounts to. Not what was drawn from the wall. If i recall correctly the lasers run at -20% efficiency- , i've been informed that lasers of this kind are even less efficient and are around 1% instead of 20. So they pulled quite a lot more from the grid as they gained from the Fusion. Then again its still a remarkable achievement and marks a milestone in fusion technology.

[@JonTietz]

If I'm understanding correctly, its meta draw is still larger than it's output, but the INPUT is lower than the output?

[@DJRaffa1000]

@@JonTietz basically the energy the Lasers shoot into the pellet is a little less than what the pellet emits. But to power the lasers, they need ~5x energy from the grid.

[@off_Planet]

I am so glad you left this comment. Popsci channel comment sections are scary.

[@bobbygetsbanned6049]

If that's true then this is no achievement at all.

[@thegurw1994]

​@@bobbygetsbanned6049not true, this is progress and a major milestone

[@alexshank1414]

Every tiny step, forward or backward, compounds our understanding of a constant sustainable fusion reaction. And one day a fusion reactor. Hopefully, in my lifetime.

[@solidaritytime3650]

I am really really really hopeful. This might be the only way we avoid total ecological collapse

[@MisterK9739]

@@solidaritytime3650 solar, wind, tidal, geothermal... are all options you know? We don´t "need" fusion to avoid ecological collapse. It would just make energy dirt-cheap

[@solidaritytime3650]

@@MisterK9739 you speak true. Implicit in my assertion is my assumption that the powers that be will never allow those renewables to reach ascendency. The US empire is built on controlling the world's oil. It'd take revolution on the part of the populace, and I don't believe we're going to be ready on the timescale climatologists give us. So my hope falls upon fusion- unlimited energy "dirt cheap".

[@Bokkie100k]

​@@MisterK9739Why would it make energy cheap? It would require installations that cost tens of billions of dollars to build.

[@diablominero]

NIF is never going to turn their work into civilian energy production. That's really obviously not gonna happen. NIF is doing nuclear weapons research.

[@Botaccount31]

Hey, guys! Currently an undergraduate nuclear engineering major studying fusion mechanics and reactor operations. What the NIF did here is pretty impressive! But it will legitimately never be super useful in commercial nuclear fusion generators. The amount of start-up energy required in the lasers makes the whole process incredibly expensive. It also takes weeks, if not months, to plan each attempt. The research we're getting out of the NIF helps other companies with expected/necessary conditions to start a reaction, but not much else.

[@ImtiazAlly-c5l]

How much would lasers help in future for longivity

[@hoaxygen]

"helps other companies"? The government is arguably the better candidate than a greedy corpo.

[@Mikeboye66]

"The power of the sun in the palm of my hand." -Dr. Octavius Edit- Thank you everyone for the likes! Glad we could relate

[@CM-hr8ou]

Came here for this very comment. Nicely done. 👌

[@brdrnda3805]

You mean the power to bring 17 liters of water to boil?

[@Mikeboye66]

@@brdrnda3805 What? Lol😂

[@mohammedkamilshaikh8406]

That's what titanic owner said

[@IamnotJohnFord]

First thing I thought of.

[@AnthonyNelms-nh8ko]

It amazes me how gold, diamond and silver and known to be riches but they also play a pivotal role in tech. Quartz too!. It really is magic!

[@Thalanox]

At least the quartz is cheap, and so are small synthetic diamonds.

[@AnthonyNelms-nh8ko]

@Thalanox you're right. Have a good day! Happy computing!

[@straightwhiteandproud9643]

It all comes from the teachings of the watchers when they decended on mankind in the beginning amd taught us heavenly secrets we were not supposed to know such as how to melt metal and make weapons, how to melt gold and silver and make jewelry, witchcraft, root cutting, divination, how to crush different things into powder and beautify the eyes with it make up in other words. astrology and how to interpret signs from the sun and moon and stars, how to make war and killing strokes with weapons how to kill efficiently and more things . There are multiple books about it that have been taken out of the bibles. Like God says seek me with all your heart and you will find me.

[@AnthonyNelms-nh8ko]

@straightwhiteandproud9643 or maybe the cosmic ape is more clever than the universe intended and we kinda just figured it out.

[@Baliken100]

thank you! I was wondering if anybody else saw that. pretty funny how all of the things that we consider valuable for cosmetic, except gold obviously and diamond in some applications, are incredibly valuable in other ways.

[@Iightbeing]

Honestly one of the coolest projects that is publicly acknowledged. Absolutely love everything about it.

[@Martinroadsguy]

This is literally just a work around for testing nuclear weapons.

[@quistador7]

I wish we would be truthful about the energy in vs energy out. Yes the energy given off was greater than the measured laser output. But the energy used to CREATE THE LASER OUTPUT was MORE THAN THE TOTAL OUTPUT OF THE FUSION. Net energy LOSS. Until we get more effiecient lasers, this shit wont work

[@Eternal_Solstice]

​@@quistador7that's the whole point. We are working towards getting a net positive. We still introduced new matter, which is something we've been trying to do for hundreds of years

[@quistador7]

@Eternal_Solstice no shit that's not the point I'm trying to make. The point I'm trying to make is that all these KZbinrs and journalists are intentionally being misleading for clicks and views

[@Eternal_Solstice]

@@quistador7 because if they said "so while we did manage to make some energy, it was actually a huge net loss because of all the energy needed to make the reaction, then no one would ever care. Not telling the entire truth is okay in some cases, and this is one of them

[@baschoen23]

Unfreakingbelievable. When you described the lasers inducing xrays for heating and compression, I got a little shiver of scientific happiness.

[@JonathanScarlet]

Just the fact that we can create even an infinitesimal fraction of the energy released by the Sun every second, and that we can briefly go energy-positive as a result, is amazing.

[@KT-pv3kl]

not really. a fusion bomb is also energy positive and we got that one right about 60 years ago

[@piano6380]

@@KT-pv3klthat’s fission friend

[@PLanTonN]

@@KT-pv3kl I disagree, this is still amazing. The fusion bomb is an uncontrolled reaction. This is a controlled reaction. It's easy to throw buckets of paint onto a canvas, it's much more difficult to paint a piece of art.

[@thedude9999]

The just say the energy that is going “directly in” the amount of total energy used for everything is still negative

[@drewber2006]

This project is a scam the more you look into it.

[@JakubS]

Note: The energy "gained" is about 1% of the energy used to power the lasers, which is not counted in the power output calculation

[@pissoff247]

Right? Isn't that convenient?

[@aiien8768]

the energy output is not what is impressing its being able to create new energy that's impressive, the possibilities this creates are endless.

[@xpusostomos]

​@@aiien8768No because all these ignition research projects don't actually count ALL the energy that went in, but they release these bullshit press releases so they get more funding. It's been going on for decades.

[@bentonjessup6803]

@@aiien8768EXACTLY! This item is going on my watch list.

[@robfer5370]

@@aiien8768 No, for that to be the case, it would need to make more power then it uses as a whole.

[@FacetiousEnigma]

I am in awe that humans actually managed to fuse atoms together.

[@retematic2351]

seriously? it's decades old technology, close to a half century actually.

[@FacetiousEnigma]

@@retematic2351 You're decades old, yet you're not nearly as impressive.

[@nemesi8800]

@@FacetiousEnigma LMFAO

[@randokaratajev2617]

​@@FacetiousEnigmaThanks for making my day 😂

[@kingscrafting7312]

N​@@FacetiousEnigma RAAHHHHH🕳️🏀🔥🔥🔥

[@LurkerPatrol]

Computers were big rooms back in the 70s and they now fit in the palm of your hands. Imagine what 50 years of fusion research and progress will get us.

[@bawasingh8176]

That is one super expensive sandwich

[@wolfrickthedesigner4748]

Id eat it tbh

[@Wilt_r]

I hear its quite hot though and made out of precious materials

[@welldonetothe7126]

All that and it will probably be used to boil water.

[@electricbeaver854]

I'm an electrician and got to work on the building of the NIF. Cool project.

[@treysword1443]

I toured the place it’s incredible. I just graduated a 2 year laser program and got to take a class trip to see NIF and all of LLNL.

[@ThatSpaceGuy938]

Humankind has the power to reconstruct atoms like this now. Crazy to think 200 years ago electricity was just beginning to become relavent.

[@UserName-cb6jz]

*relEvAnt

[@Ozymandi_as]

And it certainly wasn't understood.

[@Nuetral1]

I'm more curious how fast the next era of humankind figures it out or if we did it faster than the last round. "Humankind" very well could be the 3rd round after almost going extinct multiple times over the last 70k years... according to known history.

[@Jay-1790]

I tend to think that its a little more complicated then that. With all due respect. Humans have obviously been aware of the sight if electricity by seeing lightning, electric shock cause by friction, even electric eels in the amazon. Point im saying is there a tons of ways where this could of been a development in many parts of the world simultaneously or at different times. And that goes for alot of other discoveries

[@UserName-cb6jz]

@@Jay-1790 That's whole lotta talking while saying basically nothing. That's a gift.

[@hcblue]

"Deuterium and tritium spheres trapped in a diamond, suspended in gold cylinders" sounds like some over-the-top thing a sci-fi writer will just sprinkle into their script but wtf how is it real 😆

[@Jawneyisoepic]

Finally the power of the sun in the palm of my hand

[@joshuekz7243]

Actually is more than just one sun, that little ball is more powerful than the core of the sun itself

[@erupter76500]

@@joshuekz7243 lol no its not.

[@jimboslice4468]

@@joshuekz7243 It's no where near the power of the sun lol, the sun is the most powerful fusion generator for lightyears around, this is a tiny version of the sun

[@epiccookiegamer4190]

@@joshuekz7243 hotter ≠ more powerful

[@JosephWallace-xo8sg]

​@erupter76500 hey now, be nice. Some people do and think differently. And by differently I mean wrong.

[@lmdirkdiggler7170]

About time someone watched Spider-Man 2 and thought, "Hey this Dr. Octopus guy makes sense!"

[@aidancooper9498]

This is like if we evaporated the entirety of the Great lakes in order to turn a turbine one rotation.

[@samurphy]

@@aidancooper9498 "This is the third time that the system has generated more energy out than was input." So.. no..

[@colm1749]

@samurphy The "input" energy is a small fraction of the electricity needed to actually run the thing. Right now the power going into the building is similar to what a small city uses and the power coming out of the building is zero. The reaction it's self released more energy than was added to it. But the energy needed to run the whole machine and the facility that houses it is immense.

[@malachiXX]

Has anyone been following Helion Corporation? They are taking a different route. They aren't interested in sustained fusion but in fusion pulses that follow one another to generate electricity directly by induction. This is really cool and will most likely be the source of fusion generated electricity in the near future, well before any sustained-reaction power plants ever get off the ground.

[@martinvernerHasAids]

If they included the energy it took to power the lasers is it still putting out more energy than what went in?

[@PROBABILITYISLIFE]

It's all nonsense. I've seen extraterrestrials and spacecraft. These people are just stealing money. The science for free energy is already known by a few. Why would they change the status quo and lose trillions ? Wake up sheeple.

[@justaguylaughing]

​@@martinvernerHasAids no the initial ignition would be more than you get with the first pule, but the first pulse triggers the second rather than the lasers. 2nd starts 3rd that starts 4th so on and so fort infinitely with each reaction after the first generating more power than it took in thus being sustained and giving a return that quickly grows beyond the total investment.

[@kennethferland5579]

Your talking about pulsed fusion as if NIF were continous, your confusing NIF, which is pulsed with ITER which is a contious process. As for induction base electrical generation that is indeed superior and offers the possibility that the power cost will actually be low enough to be market disrupting, but it all depends on if Helion can actually get the fusion in the first place.

[@kennethferland5579]

@@justaguylaughing Your not describing NIF or Helion or any pulsed fusion device, they would all convert output energy into electricity which then need to be reinvested into the next pulse. Their is no heat-heat transfer in pulsed systems, if you reuse heat like that the process is contionus as in a magnetic confinment device.

[@davidcreech5962]

Man, I just turned 54 and we are on the verge of making some serious advancements in fusion tech! I wish I could be here when we start using this tech in space travel. ❤❤❤❤❤

[@superhamsniper4487]

I still think we should be building fission power plants in the meantime, its way more reliable since we already know how to make them.

[@Aion1357]

It takes long but it has high rewards

[@nyalan8385]

Very expensive to set up, takes a very long time to build, and no immediate profits. Couple that with the nearly impossible to navigate politics around it and that won’t happen even though on paper it should.

[@sanjinhodzic6208]

Fission is for like nukes tho?

[@nyalan8385]

@@sanjinhodzic6208 all current nuclear powerplants use nuclear fission to generate electricity

[@Aion1357]

@@nyalan8385 it's really just an optimistic vision of many physicists

[@stevendavis1243]

Great, that must mean we are another 30 years from having a fusion reactor

[@xaionik]

I'd say 15 or 20 years. They know how to do it now. They just have to make it economical.

[@gwolf7716]

@@xaionik Economical or profitable? Imagine the tax dollars already spent just so we can pay 20% less per kW/hr.

[@GBR9794]

@@gwolf7716 do people really still believe in TAX dollars when FED can just print it like nothing happened?

[@jambogamer-je2nf]

@@gwolf7716 very good point.

[@I.C.Weiner]

​@@xaionikthey don't know how to do it and have it sustain and how to collect that energy yet. We have known how to create fusion since before 1952 with the first fusion bomb was built. The problem with fusion is the only way we know how to build a reactor requires the fuel to be heated to hundred millions of degrees while also being held in a electromagnetic field that's powered by super conductors cooled to near absolute zero. And 100 million degrees close to something that's almost absolute zero causes issues Then there's also the issue that the energy released from a deuterium tritium fusion reaction is in the form of a high energy neutron. And neutrons are fairly hard to capture and get usable energy out of.

[@stuarthamilton5112]

The NIF serves an even cooler purpose: Validation of the United States' thermonuclear arsenal. By carefully studying ignition and learning the precise conditions underwhich it is achieved, it is no longer necessary to detonate a thermonuclear weapon to validate its yield. Understanding ignition allows us to treat thermonuclear weapons maintenance similar to conventional weapons maintenance. We can open up any explosive device and know it will work based on nothing than its assembled chemistry. We don't need to blow it up to know it works. For a long time we were not able to do that with thermonuclear weapons. We understood the fissile yield from non-thermonuclear fuel a long time ago, but because of the uncertainty of ignition it was impossible to predict the yield of a thermonuclear weapon with very good accuracy. We could only make crude estimations, some of which were so wildly inaccurate the tests killed people (Castle Bravo I'm looking at you). But no more. Now that we are probing ignition and can build a rubric for computing neutron yield from tritium-deuterium fusion, we can dramatically improve our yield computations and no longer need to do any testing at all above ground or below. The untold story of the NIF is that we, the US, get to carry our nuclear deterrent into the future, whereas other countries can only keep guessing. It is a significant strategic advantage for the US that very few people know about. You only read the fusion energy headlines, completely clueless that this is all about destruction on a completely inhuman scale. Its beautiful!

[@jmclivingwithart581]

That's what I thought. Too much hype to be true as announced. Yet the sun is also about destruction and waste of energy on an astronomical scale... it's all about keeping the right distance.

[@mikeottersole]

Interesting take. Weird ending.

[@williamduffy1227]

Thank you Mr. Hamilton ✌😎

[@slartibartfass5729]

Was thinking about weapons of muss destruction as well. All those "bright energy future" is just PR fog to make all those weapons of mass destruction research look nice and clean and bright.

[@MrJCMG]

My wife’s cousin is one of the engineers working on that project at Livermore. Her role is really technical and I can’t begin to pretend I understand any of it, but it’s cool to see this doing the rounds.

[@redguydhmis]

WE MAKING HELIUM RENEWABLE W/THIS ONE 🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥

[@masonheath5127]

Oscorp been busy, just missing Otto saying "the power of the sun, in the palm of my hand"

[@daigozidashi4376]

"The power of the sun in the palm of my- Wait. How big is the machine?" 😂

[@fattox4189]

It's worth mentioning that technically while the ignition energy in is less than the energy out, people tend to overlook it took 200MJ of energy to power the lasers where it only generated ~4 MJ. The issue is still total energy input (including any triggering energy like the lasers) being less than output i.e. net power gain

[@foremasp]

“Just another 20 years”, is what you always hear.

[@existenceisrelative]

We have jetpacks, delivery robots, self-driving cars, and can talk to a program so advanced that you don't immediately know it's not human. We are _in_ the future already.

[@mealex303]

they never say the immense sums of cash used instead of fixing fundamental problems the answer is already easy to do 😂

[@janbruhovsky7247]

​@@mealex303the whole fucking point of progress IS PUTTING TIME AND RESOURCES IN LEARNING SHIT. THE RESULT IS NOT INSTANT FOR GOD SAKE.

[@runayswarts970]

Bro do you even remember what technology was like 20 years ago 🤦

[@foremasp]

I’m old, I’m educated in science, I have been around a long time, yes I know what tech was like 29 years ago, I know it intimately. I would like government funding to continue to sponsor this technology far enough that we know it’s actually, maybe, hopefully a little viable, enough that the private sector can start dumping money into it. But public funds have been dumped into this for decades and the time horizon has never changed. And I am happy to argue the finer points of the technology, I know it intimately, I would never state an opinion otherwise.

[@SkyKing44]

In the early 1990's I had a professor that mentioned his research team had achieved the much sought after 'table-top fusion' several times. The problem they were having was duplicating their work. Every time they attempted it failed. Each time it was achieved the steps to get there were slightly different. It was an allusive problem that they ended up having to give up on. A university later claimed the achievement, but declared the energy output was not worth pursuing. I still hope to see it achieved in my lifetime.

[@eddyp483]

Did you mean ‘Elusive’?

[@SkyKing44]

@ I’ve become too reliant on spellcheckers 🙃

[@Z0ctB0x]

Bro science is going so- you know yeah- FUCKING FAST, do you know how many thousands of years we spent getting from fire to agriculture?

[@brianii5809]

So only probably another 30 years until fusion power!

[@TW-sh2un]

And how many year since the Wright Brothers until we landed a man on the moon?

[@spencervance8484]

​@@TW-sh2unabout 60 years give or take

[@TheAttacker732]

​@@TW-sh2un 66 years. And 45 of those years were just to get to the first manned supersonic flight.

[@Bouncyyy]

How many thousands of years was it actually?

[@elliottduffey4240]

As an engineering student studying to become a nuclear fusion engineer this is the second best thing to happen to me all week, just short of acing my Calc exam

[@deBobsico]

Maybe mention somewhere in your story that while they are net positive on thermal energy, they have no way to generate power from that, and that electrically it is not that close to break even even if they had. It's still impressive, but nothing like if iter were to report break even.

[@carlsutherland3730]

Research Plasma's efficiency at turning plasma straight to electricity without a generator. It has to do with atoms and their electrons separating during the heating process. It's just crazy! Now go back and reread your own statement about turning fusion into electricity. What a wild wild ride! The more we know, the more we realize what we don't know. This is like discovering fire, and going straight to a bic lighter with a LED light attached for convenience. No need to build a fire every time you want to see in the dark. My Dad had one of those, by the way. Science is amazing!

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

The electricity used to power the experiment is 100* the energy produced. They have to shut it down a long time between firing. I don't think ICF will ever be practical for generation. I think MCF will eventually. Keeping the plasma stable is very hard, but this is something AI might actually help with.

[@carlsutherland3730]

@@adrianthoroughgood1191 The steam engine was invented in Greece thousands of years ago as a toy, but works great for ships, trains, and power plants. Plasma can create electricity by simply interacting with the metal containment walls. Yes, you are right. It's going to be a while, but the science side of it is worth it. Research plasma electricity generation!

[@weaverreaver4448]

no way to generate power from thermal energy? That's heat. 90% of our energy is basically heat. Nuclear power is just turning the heat from the reaction into steam power. Coal is steam power, steam power is just thermal power. this is exactly what we use for energy.

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

@@weaverreaver4448 all those other things you mention give a continuous supply of heat which can be used to build up steam pressure to drive turbines. This system gives a one off pulse of heat. They also don't have a way of capturing that heat to put it into water. The idea that this experiment is getting close to being a genuine source of electricity is just not true.

[@OMNI_INFINITY]

"Than was input into the fuel..."

[@JasonAWilliams-IS]

This. lighting a stick of dynamite with a match makes a lot more energy than what you put into the fuel too.

[@EtymTV]

@@JasonAWilliams-IS???

[@retematic2351]

@@EtymTV the first time they claimed it it was prooven rather quickly that for their calculations of q, the ratio of energy in vs out, they used the power deliverd by the lasers, not the power that went into the laser to produce the beam. factoring that you get a q of like 0.76 iirc, which was still an about 50% improvement at the time, but is far less than the fudged 1.25someshit. at least they outright state it.

[@drew8256]

Remember when the ignition switch for a Ford Fusion was located on the steering column? Now the ignition creates fusion power.

[@i_like_Peanuts]

lmao

[@Rook986]

Once again failing to clarify that it was more energy out than put in by the lasers. The total amount of energy used to power those lasers was still far higher than the output.

[@dahemper]

Fusion; Always just 25 years away...

[@zeph0shade]

Well, the saying used to be "always 30 years away", so it's good that the "always" clock is finally counting down.

[@thatjazzybee3211]

Fusion was achieved tho

[@oldmech619]

300 years. Mark my word!

[@helloyes2288]

This attitude pisses me off.

[@CJFellowServant4288]

​@@thatjazzybee3211yea once or twice now in a lab, fired for what a few seconds?. Not in an actual fusion power plant designed to make sustainable power 24/7 for the market. So we still got a ways to go.

[@zenko247]

It's also the set for the USS Enterprise's ( Kelvin ) warp engine

[@Spunky.Streams]

Thanks Doc! Love ya 😊

[@TomKappeln]

Me seeing the tumbnail : "Fusion in a part of a motorcycle chain"? Got me Sir !😂

[@Dev-kv6go]

I would love to see the calculations if you include the energy costs used to make the deuterium

[@DrakeOola]

Too lazy to look up the energy usage used to extract deuterium but 1g of deuterium costs approx. $100 so a 2mm cube is roughly $136. They only extracted 3.9MJ of 'extra' heat energy but I'm just going to round that to 3.6 because it's equal to 1kWh which is how energy prices are calculated. Here in Hawaii it's roughly 36 cents per kWh so you're essentially producing a little over 36 cents worth of energy from this test where just the tiny block of deuterium alone costs $136 so it's not very cost efficient especially when factoring in all the other material, tools, and labor costs and I'm being very generous with energy prices since here in Hawaii energy costs are some of the highest you'll see in the entire world. Here in Hawaii it's 36 cents per kWh but some states it only costs like 7 cents per kWh or even lower so $136 of deuterium to produce 7 cents worth of energy is pretty far off from being cost effective although the video doesn't really mention if the whole block is consumed or ruined after each test but either way this isn't going to be all that viable for the next few decades. Cool for sure, but not viable...

[@terranovarain6570]

deuterium is 13$ per gram even if not cost effective comparing to our economy the technological implications possible are priceless

[@brianii5809]

Tritium is way more expensive. We don't even have any

[@RobertLutece909]

It's such a tiny amount it's going to be a rounding error.

[@senorelroboto2]

​@@brianii5809we have tritium, but we have to make it. It gets processed at a facility in South Carolina

[@coooseee]

This comment section has to be all rage bait. I refuse to believe people can be so defiantly ignorant

[@NoobKingu]

youtube is bugged, instead of top comment its showing newest first. These are the comments many make that get buried usually

[@dmaikibujin]

They do say ignorance is bliss. Though you'd think the world would be a much happier place were it true...

[@professormutant3252]

I truly hope that's the case - if it's not, it's rather concerning. So many people opening their mouths when they have literally no idea what's going on Fusion may as well be magic to them, and because they don't understand the theory behind it, they don't like it.

[@letsburn00]

The internet favours people who have nothing to do. They have hours upon hours every day to post. The smart or not insane people have other stuff to do.

[@blackronins4603]

They most definitely are. They have been throughout history. Humans fight change kicking and screaming out of fear and closed mindedness

[@nathanc.541]

Isn't the energy required to power the lasers on the order of 100 megajules? So they're recovering less than 1% of the energy created? I understand wanting to study the fusion process but the bridge to get to sustainable power doesn't seem feasible if you can't produce the confinement pressure to contain a continous ignition. The analogy is focusing on the spark plug gap but ignoring the engine.

[@Krack2805]

well, if u dont have reliable spark... the engine is pointless to design...

[@LowellAlb]

Fusion process is a hypothesis. Sun's energy source could be not fusion. Perhaps it's a total wastage of time (and $)

[@Krack2805]

@@LowellAlb reality is a hypothesis. It could totally just be an illusion. So ur life might not even be worth living. 🤯

[@LowellAlb]

@@Krack2805 There should be a boarder line between sanity and madness. If reality is just a word, why are you wasting your time posting here.

[@Krack2805]

@@LowellAlb ask urself. It's ur reality bozo

[@cloudysky82]

I feel like anytime diamonds and gold is used, theres a super villain with a grand scheme

[@Secretgeek2012]

Is that 'more energy than the laser energy' or 'more energy than the energy used to create the lasers'? Because the second number is a lot bigger then the first.

[@erikburzinski8248]

More then the lasers energy but we will get to the second number eventually

[@maudiojunky]

@@erikburzinski8248 It still won't matter. This type of machine will probably never generate useful, cost-effective power because you have to perform ignition several times a second using a precisely machined gold target and still break even after capturing the heat emitted. Maaaaaaybe it could be justified for spacecraft propulsion similar to Project Orion, but really this facility exists to predict the behavior of our nuclear weapons since we can't test them for real anymore. This type of ignition is geometrically similar to the fusion secondary stage of a hydrogen bomb.

[@s1x789]

And it is SO INCREDIBLY loud when it fires!! Its so cool!

[@kyleduddleston4123]

I want to know who makes the components for these machines. They can't be making them at scale.

[@leroyjenkins8627]

I worked at the company which manufactured the laser rods for this laser system. It's called schott glass, they're a sister company for Zeiss. Larger laser rods can get into the tens of thousands pretty quickly - the largest one I saw was about 1.5" in diameter by about 8" long and I was told it cost about $50k. Cost of one of these would depend on quantity of units ordered, purity of glass, and glass type. I'm not sure if the $50k rod was for this research organization, but it might have been 🤔

[@LucisValorian]

​@@leroyjenkins8627 interesting. Ive researched a lot about the history of zeiss, no wonder they are still running the business strong.

[@chrisr.5647]

it’s not lost on me that the portrayal of a fusion reaction in spider man 2 was actually remarkably accurate

[@sambt5]

Its a bit iffy to say more energy out than in when in. More energy out that used in ignition is what actually happened here. Technically yes, more engergy was produced than was use to ignite it. But this ignores every other usage outside of just the ignition, not mean that it was a net posative. Still a mssive breakthrough and has been getting since 2022 but we're still decades off saying this is more energy out than in.

[@Lucy-yf7re]

You're mostly right, this probably was actually net positive, but that doesn't mean it's anywhere close to being a usable amount. I agree with us likely still being decades off of actual fusion power plants.

[@jessecockrum5273]

Yeah I thought anything that out puts is a energy kenitic

[@sambt5]

@@Lucy-yf7re The report straight from the 2022 breakthrough and the latest one from 3 weeks ago both state more energy used than ignition. Everything other than actualy igniting this is ignored. It's like saying me striking a match is a net posative. It is if you only count the energy used by myself to cause the igniton. This ignores everything else in play to get to the point of ignition.

[@McLongSausage]

One thing I keep coming back to when discussing Fusion with people "I have no qualifications to be doing so at all" is that the universe always takes path of least resistance (we can argue quantum tunneling or how we recently discovered metal glass doesn't always give way to entropy, which should be the least energy process but 99.0000% this is true), you could say, it's a law, lol, anyway. I continuously see various different approach's to achieving sustainable fusion (i understand this is just a testing ground and not meant to be a actual sustained reaction) that are not applying forces in a symmetrical way. Now I'm sure a lot of people would say these forces we apply are causing interactions on a subatomic level so the geometry of it's application is less important then it's focal point and magnitude but I think we forget that subatomic forces have literal universal affects on the Macro World (IE Gravity, the potentially weakest subatomic force) and so we should remember it probably works in reverse and that how we apply these forces might be just as important as the magnitude of said forces. I mean, we don't see any cylindrical stars out there, gravity is symmetrical, it forms star's symmetrically, the forces that cause fusion in nature are therefore symmetrically applied as it is all facilitated by gravity and we should make all efforts to reproduce the geometry of said forces as nature does. In my uneducated rambling opinion lol.

[@theopendoor3716]

one very expensive explosion at a time.

[@jeffreydallas6047]

In 50 years we should have a working fusion generator- scientists in 1954

[@senorelroboto2]

​@@jeffreydallas6047to be fair, translating fission explosives to fission power took about 10 years, and by the time we had fission power we had fusion explosives.

[@moritakaishida7963]

Still significantly less expensive than the yearly military budget that doesn't need to be as high as it is

[@democratictotalitariansoci1462]

@@moritakaishida7963 that's not the excuse for neither

[@i20coyote85]

This is awesome I really hope I get to see a fusion power plant built and used in my lifetime it seems more plausible than ever at this point

[@seasong7655]

This is definitely not generating more output. A large part of the system is being ignored, like the energy it takes to drive the lasers.

[@mohl-adapt]

Yes, like in 1989 the best personal computer was a brick with half a meg of ram. Shit is always inefficient at the beginning. After proof of concept, then comes the hard part: make it cheap and make efficient.

[@professormutant3252]

Exactly. Just because it isn't good yet, doesn't mean it never will be. We KNOW sustained fusion ignition is possible - just look up. It's just a matter of figuring out how to do it efficiently and at a smaller scale than what happens in nature.

[@logan4844]

U aren't smarter than scientists

[@genericscout5408]

@@logan4844 I am a scientist lol. Though not in an applicable field to physics. The average scientist is still a person, most of them are just people who read papers. I'd argue that just because you read research that doesn't mean you're IQ smart. The majority of the science in the lab is getting your data, then making an article based off of maybe 40 other articles you also read. If the previous articles had issues then you're still pushing a wrong agenda forward. People like the former head of Harvard pushed out incorrect articles but since they're politically connected those scientific journals aren't all being discredited.

[@CatastropheCatalyst]

It generated more output heat than input heat, it's an energy positive *reaction* not an energy positive *system* that's the important part. It's still one of the first times even that has been achieved, and marks a huge step for understanding fusion power, even if this setup won't be able to be expanded into a reactor (just by its nature) it can lead to breakthroughs that will.

[@aberdinecasebier5425]

Interested in how much combined energy was used or input to get the 3.9 megajoules

[@orbatos]

It's right on the web site

[@kaustubhpandey1395]

How much? ​@@orbatos

[@The1stDukeDroklar]

IIRC last time it took 300 mj of electricity to power the lasers.

[@kiraPh1234k]

Over 300 mega Joules used to create the 2 mega Joules of laser light they blasted the fuel with

[@orbatos]

Half right, it is about ignition, but the primary purpose is not for power generation unless you include weapons. The power generation aspects are a convenient side project that keeps pr up.

[@EddieTheH]

Weaponising fusion was never a problem, controlling it's the issue.

[@orbatos]

@@EddieTheH I was correcting his statement.

[@jayantchoudhary1495]

Don't we already have fission weapons already

[@EddieTheH]

@@jayantchoudhary1495 Yes, and fusion.

[@Dablinds]

“A inside out Death Star” has to be the best way to describe fusion I gana use that

[@mattwilson8298]

Fascinating! With this advancement, fusion power should only be twenty years away!

[@retematic2351]

may be only 19.9

[@JordanValnet]

Not at all, they are very far from considering any power generation. China and Europe are much more advanced in fusion powerplant and we still hope to see the first one in the next 50 years...

[@Seriouslydave]

Tony made this in a month, in a cave, with primative tools!

[@quistador7]

I wish we would be truthful about the energy in vs energy out. Yes the energy given off was greater than the measured laser output. But the energy used to CREATE THE LASER OUTPUT was MORE THAN THE TOTAL OUTPUT OF THE FUSION. Net energy LOSS. Until we get more effiecient lasers, this shit wont work

[@giraffetamer12]

So you're saying helium is now a renewable resource?

[@jamesirwin7677]

No, he's saying that they almost have more energy out than it took to start it.

[@Skurian_krotesk]

​@@jamesirwin7677 yeah that was not his main point but, if we get fusion running, we will definately get helium as a reneable resource too...

[@Z0ctB0x]

Balloon is bigger than 2mm

[@magnuswright5572]

It's kind of renewable. There's basically no helium in the atmosphere, but helium is created in fission reactors. That's where basically all helium that gets used comes from

[@soren6045]

Which 1/100 of the energy to produce such laser power. And 1/1000000.. to produce the targets.

[@Nexusquo]

It’s important to note that the reaction produced more energy than the energy from the laser pulse. However, it created substantially less energy than the energy required to created that laser pulse. Something like 10 to 1 if I remember correctly.

[@kenversusryu]

Gold truly is legendary. No wonder so many people in history wanted it.

[@cactynemann4356]

Hydrogen to helium? Could be nice, we could always use some more balloons

[@PCJustice70]

I do hope they create practical fusion. Unfortunately, since the 70s fusion has been predicted to be 10 or so years away - longest damn 10 years i’ve ever seen.

[@gwolf7716]

I’m with you. Just wait ten more years.

[@jimmyjohnjuan]

Star trek is slowly becoming reality. Conviced the creators are time travelers

[@myflippinggoodness8821]

I hope for the end's sake you're right.. but that also means the second civil war, the eugenics war and world war III are all coming right up 😬 Just start naming your kids "zefram", and get them very big into warp theory (which ain't an actual thing--I hope--yet)

[@sheldonscott4037]

See Alcubierre-White mathematical formulation on warp drive.

[@CarlosAM1]

Star trek is as realistic as star wars idk what u mean

[@mrseven2175]

Thats what SciFi IS... literally. Why be surprised?

[@antonburdin9756]

Actually, they filmed it there at NIF.

[@EbilDerp]

Thats what director palpatine wants you to think, when it really is an ultra powerful weapon.

[@-Jeremiah-]

More out than in isn’t entirely true yet. They are adding up the required energy to start the reaction in a fairly convenient way to make that claim. But it is one step closer.

[@ObiwanNekody]

Ticks slowly... We've gone from no atomic theory to almost practical fusion in about half as many years as the Roman Empire centered in Tome existed. Seems pretty fast to me.

[@GhostZeroGZ]

CRAWL OUT THROUGH THE FALLOUT BABY, INTO MY LOVING ARMS

[@timmymckenzie7928]

you're a weird dude

[@khornelordofskulls7090]

@@timmymckenzie7928 my guy... he's singing a song...

[@howdoyoulikedemapples6491]

We use to make sapphire crystals out of electrodes, furnaces and within those furnaces we used graphite and ceramic. So hearing the materials they use to create something like this doesn't surprise me anymore it's amazing what scientist come up with

[@Tailspin80]

Diamond and gold? That’s going to put our electricity bills.

[@EclipseClemens]

If we can achieve fusion we will be able to build particles of gold and diamonds with it, so I strongly doubt it

[@moritakaishida7963]

Diamonds have artificially increased value, they're not worth jack shit

[@Iceflkn]

Encased in diamond and gold. Why does the universe seem to agree with us as to what is valuable?!

[@blockbusterjack4357]

Not 100% sure as it's pretty hush hush. But the gold and diamonds are probably for heat and conductivity along with pressure. I would have done more research but upon Googling "list of the best conductors" I got brass, bronze, platinum and Leonard Bernstein. So obviously I'm dying to know when they are going to use mr Bernstein as a conductor.

[@X-boomer]

“We’re impressed with your research and we want to help. Tell us exactly what you need.” “Really? Er… lots of gold … and, er… diamonds? All right? Oh yeah and also some compliant young women, a crate of single malt and a few keys of high grade cocaine “

[@DrakeOola]

Don't forget the deuterium, it's 3x more expensive than gold.

[@billydelacey]

Putting this into perspective, you could charge your cell phone about 117 times with that much power. I'm not saying that's a lot or a little, just letting you guys know where they're at from a practical use standpoint.

[@42.J]

In the near future: Breaking news! Humanity has sucessfully created fusion energy, In other news electric bills will be increasing by 100%

[@BosnianHeisenberg]

This would be cheaper tho

[@jessecockrum5273]

I guess def everything else

[@moritakaishida7963]

If you had infinite energy your electricity bill would become practically non existent, a tax would probably be introduced to help upkeep the fusion reactor that powers your country but that would still be cheaper every year than a monthly electricity bill

[@augustwest9727]

Still did not create more energy then it cost to run the total system. Until Total Energy is above 1 it will never work.

[@JOEDHIGGINS]

Sort of agree, but I this does scale, so large enough and it will be productive. Problem is that eventually you get a big boom. Still could grab power off it, but either way, it is really a productive event .

[@HaroldVonUberSchlong]

Good work captain obvious, you truly saved us all by stating the obvious. You truly are the smartest of us all….. Wanker.

[@catfan__]

no way, you should go tell them about this groundbreaking info

[@sleepbeinshy5775]

Its still exciting? And a leap or forward? Sorry they havent solved global energy crisis in a day ig

[@augustwest9727]

@@HaroldVonUberSchlong Your truly welcome Sargent Winkie, I'm here to help with the OBVIOUUUUUS. 🦸

[@AmritGrewal31]

This is the type of nuclear power that I'll gladly and enthusiastically support. Why? Because sheer incompetence of politicians, govt. bureaucrats and power-plant workers, in the fusion reactor's case, would mean the reaction shuts down instead of a big kaboom and your continent shutting down.

[@AmritGrewal31]

"There are safety measures in fission reactors, and the waste isn't that bad" 1) Define "that bad". 2) most of us have an extremely hard time trusting the govt, its bureaucrats & technicians in implementation and upkeep of the safety measures

[@Mandragara]

@@AmritGrewal31 1) Nuclear waste is low in volume. All spent fuel generated by the world to date fits on a football field with a height of 3 meters. Nuclear contamination is easy to detect, just buy a geiger counter. Most other industrial wastes are either larger in volume and\or harder to detect. There's no geiger counter for PFAS for example. 2) Governments around the world run many nuclear power plants without issues. Even Fukushima is an example of how safe nuclear power is. A massive earthquake and tsunami hit an old nuclear power plant and what happens? Essentially nothing. I think your level of distrust for the government is unfounded. 3) You do realise we can use fusion reactors to reactivate depleted uranium right? Governments can still use fusion reactors to create nukes and thus the big kaboom. So fusion isn't a safeguard against an incompetent government

[@AmritGrewal31]

@@Mandragara 1) a) imprecise phraseology yet again 1) b) so your argument is essentially "we already have plenty dangerous shiz in our environment, so whats the big deal with a bit more?" 2) a) is it? Majority not trusting nuclear power plants says plenty. The argument made by scientists usually is that its about lack of awareness in people. No, you arrogant koks, stop thinking of people as undereducated fools. People have brains and they notice the incompetencies of the overlords on daily basis. America has NUKES missing FFS. 2) b) "essentially nothing" happened after that Tsumami? Are you sure? 3) i never talked about manufacture of nukes; you misread. I still have to ask, why would you believe a govt making nukes implies incompetency?

[@sidawan9297]

@AmritGrewal31 Tell me you don't know shit about nuclear powerplants without telling me you don't know shit about nuclear powerplants

[@AmritGrewal31]

@@sidawan9297 feel free to elaborate

[@justagamer878]

Scientists: requires high-end materials and lots of time to achieve fusion Me: activates Polymerization

[@lykou1821]

Last century science ticked faster than we could blink.

[@HorrorWhisper23]

The video is very fun and creative! Great to see. Great content created!

[@Laluan]

We are becoming what we call ‘aliens’ ourselves.

[@yourself-to]

I am coming at the fact of how much science is getting better

[@SPACECOWBOY_Hej]

This could also fix the worry of “earth running out of helium” very nice

[@NinjaSushi2]

The craziest part to me is not that they were able to achieve this but that there is somebody so smart that they are in charge of overseeing the entire project. How freaking smart do you have to be to be in charge of all the other smarties. Lol

[@NinaYahsika]

Its been some decades since Sam Raimi's Spiderman 2. And until now we're still trying to replicate what Doc Ock did. Damn.

[@ninkstheultimate3376]

Fusion reactors, thorium reactors... We are finally reaching clean energy.

[@chancellor9000]

The nuclear fission and oil & gas industries will work tirelessly to ensure this technology is never commercialized.

[@stevenarvizu3602]

Layman’s translation: Scientists more or less figured out fusion, now we wait for Applied Science teams to figure out how to make an actual facility that uses this process

[@BrianGivensYtube]

This sounds even more intense than the Flux Capacitor!

[@alexhirt4382]

I remember growing up they said fusion was impossible. So cool to see the amazing strides humanity has made❤

[@the10thdoctor84]

In the 20s they said that splitting the atom was impossible. Yet in 1932 it was done.

[@coopercheves2142]

That's nearly 10 times hotter than the core of our sun! HOLY SHIT

[@pranjalikcutie143]

I remeber 5 years ago my science twcher said fusion was impossible on earth. Its amazing how we keep discovering new things. This is why i live scoence so much

[@Blueroom97777]

Raimi's "Spiderman 2" predicted all that tritium with lasers thing

[@Dalizardboi]

“Random bullshit go!” Ahh science 🙏🏾😭