What Is Fusion and How Do You Get It to Work?

[@Shallcross]

This man is amazing. Can someone at this University please have him do videos explaining EVERYTHING?!? More of this guy!

[@cherylsimmons8194]

Very proud to say I graduated from the University of Illinois. He works there. Very valuable research of all kinds goes on at the U of I.

[@itsumonihon]

this guy is gifted as a science communicator, he should be more well known

[@Shallcross]

He's like the Bob Ross of Science.

[@lateeftech2077]

Andrew Shallcross Yes

[@kansascityshuffle8526]

That jacket is the one Ross would never wear.

[@The.Breakfast.Burrito]

@@kansascityshuffle8526 Bob Ross would totally wear that jacket if he were a Professor of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering.

[@kansascityshuffle8526]

Dr. Stephen Poop but he didn’t and he wasn’t

[@The.Breakfast.Burrito]

@@kansascityshuffle8526 "If" was the operative word, indicating that my statement was merely hypothetical. Excluding any imagination though... Bob Ross predominantly wore a white button up dress shirt. I'd argue that the button up dress shirt :: artists : the sienna brown blazer :: professors of nuclear engineering. You know I'm right. Swallow your pride and admit it.

[@jamescooke3763]

I'm proud to build parts for fusion reactors here in the USA. You have a nice piece of kit there sir. Thank you for showing it to us and for explaining the physics so eloquently.

[@davidcraig9779]

Proud? Why?

[@jamescooke3763]

@@davidcraig9779 I don't have to justify that to you, you little prick

[@electrolytics]

@@jamescooke3763 Excellent reply James. Excellent!

[@Kharnellius]

@@jamescooke3763 XD Beautiful!!!

[@BrianHibbert]

@Danny G You obviously don't have a clue what you are talking about. The fusion reactions we can currently make and expect to use for fusion power produce HELIUM (an inert non-radioactive gas). There is very little danger from D-T fusion and the most dangerous element involved is the the microscopic amounts of Tritium fuel (with a half life of a little over 12 years and low energy decay). ITER will produce some low level waste from neutron activation of the equipment, but that will be stored onsite for the few years that it is expected to remain active. HERE: www.iter.org/mach/safety for more info.

[@hermanwulf6677]

May people are on the internet explaining Physic. You do one of the best jobs of explaining complex things to simple people like me. Thanks

[@canfeltham4714]

If I was taught the sciences visually like this I would have got much better grades. I’m so glad I discovered this channel, thank you Professor

[@AMildCaseOfCovid]

No kidding. For most of us it's "Here's the Hamiltonian. It's an eigenvector problem, see? Just apply it to the wave function to get the total energy, see? How do you get a wave function? Well, you determine the boundary conditions based on your simplistic understanding of the situation, then do separation of variables like you learned in one of your annoying later calculus classes. What are you, five?"

[@marcwinkler]

@@AMildCaseOfCovid Will be only 30 years away from the next 30 years.

[@spvillano]

@@marcwinkler rinse and repeat every 30 years...

[@marcwinkler]

@@spvillanoOnline videos is The Thing, today as hopefully in 30 years.

[@saarangsahasrabudhe8634]

"Let's look at the closest operating fusion reactor right now..... The sun" 😂.

[@ronusa1976]

kzbin.info

[@Quadrolithium]

Well he's correct... we cannot do that here with our current tech

[@3vimages471]

@@Quadrolithium Actually we can do it now for a split second …. which just cant sustain it.

[@Quadrolithium]

@@3vimages471 which is definitely not enough to break even, we spent too much power on too little

[@3vimages471]

@@Quadrolithium That is the cost of research dude.

[@marttiinnanen4911]

How do you celebrate the first successful fusion reactor? - With a lot of party baloons!

[@saxonsoldier67]

I like this fusion plan as we are running out of helium here on Earth.

[@CraftyF0X]

Ha! Good one :)

[@LuaanTi]

@@saxonsoldier67 There's other ways to make helium than fusion. Alpha decay is probably the most practical (and is probably where our "fossil" helium comes from). But we need the anti-nuclear craze to finally die :'(

[@alleneverhart4141]

There's always a twist!

[@deezynar]

Just don't tell a cop you're going to twist his donut.

[@thebloxxer22]

Plot twist:tsiwt tolP

[@mistrikusilaminasi2079]

Thank you teacher. You taught me about plasma. We all here as classmates. Even if you wouldn’t read this comment section. Thank you very much.

[@valkyrie9553]

Why am I enjoying these lectures so much? Thanks Professor!

[@k8la65t2qvpbl]

I dont know how Illinois rates as university for nuclear engineering but watching prof. Ruzic lectures here, I wouldnt hesitate to go there to study. What a fantastic content!

[@ako969]

The best explanation of fusion on the internet --- hands-down. Thank you, sir.

[@ThUnDaHuNtA_Australia]

hi professor, thanks for taking the time to produce these excellent presentations, you are a knowledgable, clear and articulate speaker and importantly you take your time and dont try to rush though like you have somewhere else you need to be. your presentations are well laid out and i think contain enough detail for both uni students and casual geeks (me). i see your field is nuclear engineering but dont be afraid to diversify a bit too. looking forward to many more of your videos. regards

[@dumyjobby]

never been very interested in nuclear staff but since i found this channel it seems i can't learn inaf. Incredibly interesting lectures and fantastic presentation and visible passion.

[@thrymthorson2929]

This is so amazing I could listen to this 24/7 Reminds me of alpha centauri in german TV

[@MikeHughesShooter]

Excellent as always. I’ve watched so many of his videos, literally just for entertainment. Yes to learn, but I watch it when I’m in the mood to be entertained. 😋

[@TheTMog]

Harbor Freight sponsored engine hoist. Seriously interesting video. Thank you. Subscribed.

[@kristianlittler-ward6063]

Fantastic video series, I can't thank you enough for putting these lectures online!

[@zashbot]

these videos are so well produced and informative, thank for providing this information for free!

[@SBTRIS]

I like this guy, informative and entertaining at the same time 😄

[@mizar_copernicus138]

dr sean bean makes any topic so easy to comprehend thank you sir

[@theovermind2149]

this man could tell me the process of drying paint and it still be interesting

[@michaelcorbidge7914]

Yes , the very first Faraday lecture by the man himself was couple hours on the subject of a burning candle .

[@Ice_Karma]

"Hybrid Illinois Device for Research and Application"... or "HIDRA"? =3

[@danyael777]

it's from germany. they just buit the worlds largest^^

[@dsandoval9396]

Hail Hydra!! Hey, don't get mad at me for seeing the writing on the wall and being prepared.

[@3vimages471]

@@dsandoval9396 Actually you meant Heil Hydra …. but still damn funny.

[@slidey1788]

If this was a hydra project, does that mean we'll need an infinity stone to make it work?

[@hectordavidortiz]

I’m hooked on these videos! 🙌🏽 Awesome work condensing all that info. into layman’s terms.

[@avibanerjee96]

Thank you so much for posting this. I am an engineering graduate, and our nuclear energy professor was terrible. He should have learned from this guy.

[@brandonnelson5021]

He is simply amazing. My brain is very underutilized to say the least. But I can understand complex subject matter from this professor!

[@ndeepowder]

Iv watched dozens of these videos, and this is the first tight shot of his face. Now I actually see what the professor looks like. People faces are so similar yet instantly you can recognize them as a unique person, different from every other human face you have ever seen before.

[@tonyduncan9852]

There was a selection pressure, don'tcha think?

[@alandoherty5804]

Thanks so much for these videos, please don't stop or underestimate their value!

[@sejlefrew]

Confinement ✔ Temperature ✔ Density X Love these videos. Excellent work!

[@tonyduncan9852]

And the energy exits _where?_

[@nicholasandrzejkiewicz]

@@tonyduncan9852 How does the energy "exit" a fission reactor? Heat is transferred to water to drive a turbine with steam. Energy isn't a physical thing that needs an opening to exit.

[@tonyduncan9852]

@@nicholasandrzejkiewicz _"How does the energy "exit" a fission reactor? Heat is transferred to water to drive a turbine with steam."_ - You've answered your own question. The kinetic energy of the fissioning nucleus components IS heat itself. _"Energy isn't a physical thing that needs an opening to exit"_ - Energy *IS* a physical 'thing'. It's in the *_speed_* of the particles, and it leaves the scene by momentum transfer to whatever the fissioning particles collide with. It's also found in the EM radiation which is liberated by fission. This departs at lightspeed to transfer its momentum to the reactor. Energy is a part of Physics. It *IS* a 'physical thing'.

[@nicholasandrzejkiewicz]

@@tonyduncan9852 I was trying to be polite and answer your question, but I can only reiterate what is true - I am a mathematical physicist. Energy has never been more than a bookkeeping device, it's a simple quantity. Just because a quantity is useful doesn't make it real, like the phase space in statistical mechanics or the stress energy momentum tensor. Being "a part of physics" only means being in the literature conceptually, that doesn't make it physically there. Of course it's subjective as to whether mathematical abstractions are real, but energy does not have the same status as velocity for example (which you can see).

[@nicholasandrzejkiewicz]

@@tonyduncan9852 I didn't have any questions, I was giving you leading ones.

[@rayfiore7779]

I once worked with a device that produced secondary nuclear radiation by simply discharging huge capacitors to create a electrical beam striking a plate, accelerating in a vacuum. 'Vulcan' was what it was called and it provided the ability to test to radiation hardness of electronic equipment. This was over 50 years ago, I'm sure we are well beyond this now.

[@spvillano]

Yeah, we have Neutristors now. And commercial neutron sources that literally do the very same thing. And kids making fusion reactors in their garages. Nothing gainful, they're wasteful as all getout, but fusors are fairly plentiful these days. Fusion is easy, getting energy from fusion beyond the input necessary to generate it, that's hard. Well, hard, assuming you don't want to detonate a fission device to fire up the fusion reaction...

[@rayfiore7779]

@@spvillano Have you ever seen the movie 'Chain Reaction'? the key point is any breakthrough has to be disseminated quickly far & wide.

[@brucewilliams6292]

Excellent series. I really love learning about the possibilities of nuclear and fusion energy. Thank you for the great videos! :)

[@gelinrefira]

"We just have to figure out how to make this on Earth." Well isn't that a gross understatement.

[@edwardhoulton8725]

Gaelin Looi no not really.

[@deezynar]

Yes, it is a bit of an understatement in a way. But think about this, humans had been looking at birds for thousands of years and some said, "Birds have wings that allow them to fly. If we could make wings, we could fly too." But the majority of people thought flight was impossible. The truth is, some bamboo in the right shape and size with silk fabric stretched over it, and someone would have had an effective glider centuries ago if they had studied it methodically. The ancient Greeks could have done it, but for all the advancements they made, they didn't know about the scientific method. We have people today who do nothing but science for a living and they're working hard to learn as much they can about fusion. It's not as simple as wings, but a hundred years after they figure it out, folks will say that we could have done it in the 20th century if we only understood some simple truth. Whatever that "simple" truth is, we'll eventually figure it out, if it's at all possible. (I edited this weeks later to clean up many grammatical blunders. I'm sure that I've left a few more, but trust me, it's much better than it was.)

[@dsandoval9396]

@@deezynar 42. The answer is, 42. You're welcome.

[@ThUnDaHuNtA_Australia]

@@dsandoval9396 the answer is not 42, everyone makes the same mistake, the correct answer is 6x7. the conclusion of 42 although seemingly obvious is simplistic and incorrect.

[@UnleashthePhury]

That's some straight Bighead shit

[@lorriecarrel9962]

You do such a good job explaining this stuff

[@MADDLADO1]

This is actual science, that is really interesting, because it's so complicated, and yet incredibly dynamic. If I miss any sentence, I'm compelled to replay it, or I will certainly lose the context, and fall out of sync in comprehension of the subject. In other words, I get sucked right in, like a good novel 😃

[@Neofito89]

Very well explained lessons on this channel, congratulations.

[@rimseophysics]

You are a brilliant human being, amazing, excellent, clear explanation!!!!

[@mungkey]

I don't even know anything about these nuclear stuff 😂 but I have already watched several of profs videos from start to finish and learned a lot ! He's amazing!!! way batter than binge watching tv series imo 😁

[@randycarstens1100]

Once you produce sustainable fusion, how do you get the energy out of the magnetic bottle to do something useful with it? Literally how do you get the genie out of the bottle?

[@СашаКумылганов]

Heat water and let it spin the electro generator rotors, same as nuclear power

[@3vimages471]

@@СашаКумылганов Yep ….. nuclear reactors are just steam engines without using coal to heat the water.

[@ianhollands1641]

You've an energy source at 100,000,000 degC producing several megawatts continuously; anything within fifty yards is going to be vaporised. I just can't see this ever working unless it's the size of a football stadium. I'm old enough to remember press reports that viable fusion reactors were just round the corner in the 1950's. Devices like that shown aren't even close.

[@alandpost]

The neutrons produced fly right through the magnetic field, and are absorbed in a lithium blanket to breed tritium. The alpha particles in the plasma are exhausted through a "divertor".

@@ianhollands1641 In relevant words: That's not the energy source. You can not point at the tip of a moving mountain on water and assume it is an iceberg, it might be a turtle. Conditions non-conducive to dislocation of temperature keep millions of degrees contained - can you not imagine or does the idea bother you? somehow The fusing matter to be used in contemporary fusion reactors is not dense enough to melt the container - it can not store enough heat to do so. Water has a higher specific heat capacity than air. The same volume of air takes less energy to heat. Wet weather is hotter than dry weather!

[@englishcountryliving448]

This Gentleman is amazing. Science entertainment.

[@amplituhedron5582]

Once all those 3 steps are done, density temperature confinement What are the current ideas to harness the resulting energy? You can't run a water pipe through the superheated plasma to produce steam, it would melt.

[@vadamov12]

Once the reaction started, how will you add fuel and remove byproducts?

[@tonyduncan9852]

Indeed.

[@techpriest4787]

Adding fuel should be just a matter of pumping in. But the waste wouldn't split like that, so that seems a problem. I wonder how long it can run like that, and how long it takes to start up again. Perhaps using multiple reactors for timed bursts is smarter then a stustsained long term reaction.

[@TheMygoran]

Hm... Helium is inert, maybe you can catch it somehow with that property? I have no idea how though, really good question

[@minxythemerciless]

Aha! I have figured out how he can write backwards! In the on-site video around 11:30 his lapel mike is on my right. In the to-camera videos it's on the left. And his parting changes side as well! He uses video mirroring to pretend he's writing backwards! :-)

[@adamdanilowicz4252]

Well aren't you clever...

[@georgekarnezis4311]

I went on a fishing trip in Minnesota and the outfitter was showing us the map as he sat across from us he wrote on the map so we could read. He was writing upside down perfectly.

[@francisluglio6611]

Dunning kruger effect

[@dewiz9596]

Adam Danilowicz Give him a break.

[@michaelcorbidge7914]

Ahah ! Eureka !

[@spudhead169]

How the hell do you mount that on a Delorian?

[@bradenehlke7652]

Carefully

[@slidey1788]

Velcro and duct tape.

[@maiwennlilas9662]

Awsome! I had the chance and honor to know the Hydra myself.

[@williamcraig6377]

Mmmmmm. Doughnut. Aaaaaaaaah! Another great video professor. Great content and well explained.

[@Name-js5uq]

Wow you are so good. About a year-and-a-half ago I started a project to make one. i was going to make a homemade fun one.

[@pratwurschtgulasch6662]

very nice video. i like your lectures a lot for the most part.

[@MFKR696]

I really appreciate that you're making these videos. Most of the progress stifling anti-nuclear activism that exists today is the result of nothing but fear. The more people understand nuclear energy, the less they will fear it. Then maybe we'll get somewhere. Then again, we do live in a world where people complain about wind turbines because they're "ugly". It takes some real bold ignorance to vote against the installation of wind-farms merely on the basis of aesthetics. It's ridiculous is what it is, and so is most of what I've heard from people who fear nuclear energy and its current by-products.

[@3vimages471]

Actually I object to wind turbines because they kill untold numbers of birds …. and they are ugly. I agree with you about nuclear reactors ….. if people knew how safe they are these days, especially in the West, perhaps they wouldn't complain so much.

[@MFKR696]

@@3vimages471 More birds are killed by semi trucks on highways and high-rise buildings than are killed by wind turbines. As for their aesthetics, who cares? It's not there to look pretty. It's there to generate energy.

[@8765-g3e]

How is the energy from the reaction captured? Wouldn't the products of the reaction keep spinning around the magnetic field along with the reactants?

[@Bunnysinger]

The only stuff captured by the reactor (its magnetic field) are ions, as the products of the reaction (neutrons and helium cores) are not ions, the are flying out of the reactor and will hit/fly through the walls, where water is heated.

[@tonyduncan9852]

@@Bunnysinger Past the super=cooled superconductors. That'll be a breeze.

[@Bunnysinger]

@@tonyduncan9852 Actually these blankets are located inside the magnets. Why reply with a wrong answer when the information is easily accessible?

[@tonyduncan9852]

@@Bunnysinger _"Blankets"_ ? - Pipes containing pumped water expanding into pressurised steam are _wrongly_ described as "blankets". _"Wrong answer"_ ? - "Past the super-cooled superconductors" is absolutely correct. I appreciate that the magnets will heat up, and yet also that in order for the magnets to drive the magnetic fields, their wiring should be superconducting, and at a temperature of at most -120 deg C. That'll be a breeze. . . . Is your real name Lady Pilman, and do your fingers always slip on the keys?

[@Bunnysinger]

@@tonyduncan9852 Your first comment insinuated that the capturing of the heat takes place past the supercooled magnet, which is demonstrably false. Just take 5 seconds to look up the diagrams of ITER. A blanket is the correct term to describe the unit used in ITER, which is composed of tritium-breeding concepts, radiation protectin of the magnets as well as waterpiping. It is not wrongly described, it is simply the term used by everyone working on this project. Specifics of how the magnets will be supercolled during operation can also be easily accessed by just going to the webpage of ITER (and the T° is -269°C, not -120°C). Is this pure neglicence or stupidity, I can't figure out which one you're portraying.

[@jesusmalena3741]

Thank you professor, for this insightful lecture. I was oblivious to the negative effects of fusion. Many people would say fusion doesn't have the same problems as fision. The way it was explained by many was that unlike a fision reactor, a fusion one would not reach critical meltdown. But what I didn't know is that you still have the same problem with radioactive material after the fact. Yes better than having radioactive material that has a half life of 10,000+ years, but you still have radioactive material as a by product.

[@magnustorque5528]

This method of delivering scientific information to students is awe inspiring. Of course you need to a have a guy like this with extremely sophisticated and high level specialized knowledge and experience, but also someone with exceptional communication and speaking skills. He intuitively knows exactly how to convey the information because he also understands the nuances involved such as repeating some of the information at the right time (he has developed that skill and understanding of what's required over time), and his tone and sonic delivery is effectively dynamic. Not to mention that he provides an element of humor and a little bit of politics blended in. He distills the abstract into something that the sophomoric novice can identify with. The net effect is that you want to keep learning at a deeper level because these short segments wet your appetite to the degree that you get hooked. This doesn't get any better.

[@klausgartenstiel4586]

this episode sponsored by molten boron

[@pointcuration1278]

We just need 5000 tons of it and sand, now.

[@ChilledfishStick]

Nobody doesn't like molten boron!

[@TheLegomann97]

@@pointcuration1278 You have made lava...

[@tonyduncan9852]

Boron PLASMA.

[@rushikesh13]

Good Work Sir 🙂

[@freehugs9223]

Thanks for making it seem normal.

[@benthurber5363]

I find it somewhat comforting to see a Harbor Freight engine hoist being used to work on a fusion reactor...

[@rapid13]

The smug grin when he talks about "3 or 4% of all of the electrical energy on campus" is pure gold lol!

[@elmarmoelzer2229]

Great series. Will you be going into alternative confinement concepts such a FRCs (which are lately making great progress) or a Sheared Flow Stabilized Z- Pinch (maybe also how it is different from a regular Z- Pinch)? Those are good candidates for relatively compact power plants (when compared to toroids like Tokamaks and Stellerators) . The former is very high Beta, the latter can be super compact. For FRCs I like the work Helion Energy and PPPL have been doing. Those two are unfortunately often overlooked. Also missing was Helium3 boosted Deuterium - Deuterium- Fusion, which is interesting, because it does not need an external source of He3 (He3 being a product of D+D along Tritium, which eventually decays into more He3). I think it is a great intermediate step towards PB11 fusion.

[@aifutureasia]

I would like to attend prof Ruzic classes in the future. 👍👍👍👍👍

[@christopher6161]

-that's what you need to know about fusion

[@pokenaturewithastick]

I love that the prototype reactor of the future has hoses held together with cable ties

[@keithgoff3272]

I love the Harbor Freight engine lift being used on this multi-million dollar piece of equipment.

[@tomservo5347]

I was amazed being stationed in Germany all the nuclear power plants I saw there. My immediate thought was Germany is WAY more environmentally minded than here in the US-yet nuclear power there generates a huge amount of their electricity and most Germans like it. They view it as what it is, a viable, clean, reliable energy source when properly built and maintained. Look at our nuclear powered Navy with over 50 years of use and no accidents because of stringent military procedure. Applying that to the civilian world is the problem where cost cutting creates problems. Great videos!

[@sheldonholy5047]

Germany has been shutting down its nuclear plants in an effort to go "green", so they are building solar and wind plants. Guess what, the solar and wind is so unreliable that they've had to back it up with coal, so their emissions have increased dramatically. So dumb

[@SwuuschifyMe]

@@sheldonholy5047 Both of you are dead wrong. Nuclear is not at all see favorably by the Germans. And coal has always been the primary power source in Germany. Why do you lie?

[@pdqkevin]

SwuuschifyMe Sheldon Holy does not lie. After Fukushima German politicians decided to move away from nuclear power plants. Since then the price of energy has dramatically increased with an increase in carbon emissions. Just compare to France where they continue nuclear power generation.

[@tomservo5347]

@@pdqkevin It's stupid IMHO. I do remember seeing the wind turbines long before they appeared here in the US but the trouble is wind energy is unreliable. Britain tried going with wind turbines and they have brown outs. Germany isn't exactly known for earthquakes/tsunamis so I don't understand why the media always goes into full scare mode. Nuclear energy is some of the cleanest compared to alternatives. Here in the US 70 percent of our power is still coal fired. One thing little known is the filters used in the stacks scrub most of the 'greenhouse' gases out. (Food for plants?! but I'm just an ignorant peasant without multiple degrees that mean I'm book smart, but a complete idiot common sense wise.) It's tiring when governments force things on their people without having a viable alternative to switch to without costing their people money. Worse yet are these politicians that create these policies that they themselves aren't affected by since they're rich. (More than 1 house, usually a mansion, multiple cars, jets, security, etc.) Hypocrisy at it's worst. I can't believe Germans allow the things their terrible government subjects them to.

[@SwuuschifyMe]

@@pdqkevin It is an ethical question. Prices WILL increase, even if switched to nuclear power. And finding a place to safely store irradiated waste is hard, and arguably dangerous.

[@Dragonmastur24]

1:26 Is this a reference to Stargate universe?

[@NoOne56488]

Destiny doesn't fly through the stars tho, it skims them. Kind of like fuel scooping from Elite Dangerous ;)

[@SGUnity]

It appears so ^^

[@zalxder]

6:47 thorium molten salt fission reactor heated boron fusion reactor?

[@onemoremisfit]

15:15 The world's largest Easy Bake Oven.

[@michaellundgren6949]

I wanted you to explain how do you extract the excess energy once it is working.

[@the-mallory]

Michael Lundgren heat up water to turn a turbine. Same as most other electricity generation. The heat is what is released from the fusion reactions

[@michaellundgren6949]

@@the-mallory Its not explained. There is coolant water in fission reactors. No mention of water in the fusion reactor.

[@Beertraps]

@@michaellundgren6949 For the reactions where a neutron is created this neutron is unaffected by the magnetic field because it has no charge. Its energy can land in the surrounding material which can then be used to create steam and power a turbine.

[@KieraCameron514]

If and when fusion becomes feasible, what is the idea on how to use the energy produced?

[@ecsciguy79]

Is this an early research model/tool from the wendelstein 7-x team?

[@TogameRosecraft]

Awesome video!

[@kielkaiser]

but, what about the magnetic field outside of that machine? having a high magnetic field around the machine, isnt dangerous? or they were able to confine it too?

[@Tenebrousable]

It's not very long range effect. Just put electronics in a metal box with good grounding. And don't walk in with a spanner in your back pocket. Metal walls in general stops it.

[@vahagnmelikyan2906]

But would charged particles move in a non moving magnetic flux? If you apply dc current to coils would it cause charged particles to move inside toroidal tube? Does it has too be at least pwm on off dc input?

[@nathanhaiduk2957]

Since the magnetic field is coupled with the hardware that produces it, Does the higher temperature therefore pressure Put more stress or strain on the hardware?

[@DrThunder88]

This is completely fascinating and kind of makes me want a donut.

[@robwilgenhof4386]

Wonderful!! My brain is blown away !! Thank you soo much ??.))5

[@FranciscoJimenez-bb7fk]

Although contrary, can nuclear radioactive power be used to obtain the fusion you speak of?

[@FranciscoJimenez-bb7fk]

Probably already attempting to in a way since maybe the electricity being supplied is from a nuclear power plant, even though, my context is of a more closer relationship between the two and not just the power from the circuit breaker in the school's electrical room...

[@sarcasmo57]

In the time being let's use the current fusion reactor more effectively.

[@GoldSrc_]

Current fusion reactors take more energy to keep them running than what they put out, it's not worth it right now. Fission is the next best thing that is proven to work.

[@sarcasmo57]

@@GoldSrc_ Was talking about the sun, Gordon. Also, congratulations on finally announcing a new Half Life game.

[@GoldSrc_]

@@sarcasmo57 Oh, my bad. Too bad is VR only, but I support Valve backing up this game as it may as well be the thing that makes VR more affordable for everyone.

[@thoriummarcell403]

Actually, it's the device waste that is significantly more problematic to handle than the fuel. Fission works, and is extremely easy to regulate (in many cases self-regulating and need very simple and small adjustments by time, eg. diluting the salt and extracting salt to start more plants with the fuel that gave off tremendous amount of energy, 190 MeV/atom and got more precious since put into the reactor ). It is unfair to say that "robotic fusion equipment maintenance will work because it works with fission reactors"... Fission reactors have 1/10 times the volume and mass, 1/50 times the complexity (molten chloride salt reactors have a low pressure vessel, pump and salt-salt heat exchanger inside the nuclear island, very simple system compared to fusion - everyone should be aware of this) 5x the lifetime compared to fusion reactors (because of the complexity and the 14.06 MeV DT fusion neutrons). Simply put, the equipment waste (decommissioning waste) related to fusion is 50..100 times bigger problem compared to fission, and roughly 1000 times bigger problem compared to fission products (that are valuable, and very easy to prevent dispersion into the environment - except that - based on historical experience - some of the noble gases and tritium are the most problematic , and a giant problem with fusion that depends on astronomically greater amount of tritium compared to fission where it is a minor contaminant if done right).

[@thoriummarcell403]

Even the fusion devices to install in the first place (just watch the tremendous effort, they keep failing for 50+ years), and much more so to replace after activated. Fusion equipment is much more complex and much more volume also. Compared to fast-neutron fission, fusion has several times lower energy density, and several times shorter wall lifetime and as a direct consequence fusion has much more waste, that is extremely problematic. Spent fission fuel is extremely valuable if processing is allowed and especially if fast-spectrum (100 keV..1 MeV) is also allowed. It's been prohibited (see SNR-300 and Integral Fast Reactor story... These were capable of turning LWR waste to energy and separate the extremely valuable fission products: 16 million USD / ton - eg. platinum, rhodium are more valuable than gold. All sientific studies conclude that DT-tokamak is more problematic, more complex, shorter lifetime, more volume to replace more frequently than fast-spectrum fission. Cleaner fusion is a myth, simply not supported by scientific studies considering equipment wate. It is repeated again and again, but it is a myth based on pretending that fast-neutron fission is not feasible and making fission appear 100 times more dirty and fusion appear 100 times more clean than it actually is (this is perpetrated supported by mass manipulation and "pressure from the top" politics, see the SNR-300 and IFR examples, it is very real) and journalists who do not understand the extreme social harm caused.

[@hypnoticm0nkey]

I love these video's

[@ephelduath610]

Great lectures!

[@ericsallustio]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the process to make this net positive? Basically, after pumping all of this energy into getting a reaction, how do you extract the energy out to produce electricity?

[@nicevideomancanada]

How do you draw heat off to power a steam powered generator?

[@mattgray666]

The friction from taxpayers opening and closing their wallets.

[@Omn1potenc3]

Im developing a nuclear propulsion device, now I understand the physics behind it😊

[@jacobosgood3513]

It's interesting that he mentions Boron-P fusion, but omits 3He-3He. The activation energy is similar, with much more safety in both reactants and product. Granted 3He is much rarer than Boron, but the greater output and lower masses makes it a juicy target for completely clean fusion reactions.

[@nikoskaravitakis9437]

Helium 3 makes no sense for now since its astronomically expensive and hard to get.

[@mpetersen6]

While I fully expect ITER to achieve net fusion reactions I really do not expect it to lead to a commercial reactor design. If I had to bet right now I'd go with one of the newer more compact TOKAMAK designs that are taking advantage of the advances in superconductor manufacturing technology. Also as this technology matures one of the mallstart ups looking into alternative reactor designs might get there. If they do they will become very, very rich.

[@mdavid1955]

Confining a super heated plasma with a magnetic field is like confining jello with rubber bands is the comparison that I've read...I don't expect electric power from this in my remaining lifetime if ever...but it's neat tech.

[@barley12girl]

And people from the 1860's would have laughed at the ability to make aluminum cans with wings fly, but we did it, us crazy thinking apes.

[@PiconPrimeKnight]

Star: confines plasma since the beginning of time. Germans: *looking at the star* Germans: I invented this !

[@victorarnault]

In 2017, the Wieldstein X-7 was turned on in Germany. This is the very first nuclear fusion reactor.

[@IYPITWL]

outstanding

[@omni_vocal9877]

im greatful to be able to see this form my tiny shed den - hahaha - thank u =)

[@PJG33]

Gilderoy Lockhart is an amazing teacher

[@kraftrad7840]

how is the energy taken from the plasma, when its magnetic locked in the vacuum toroid?

[@SuperUltimateLP]

Like every other nuclear/coal/gas plant. Boiling water and driving turbine's. The bigger real systems get a "cooling" system that boils water in the "shell" (I'm not sure how to call that in English) The small system you see in this video is not meant to sustain any prolonged plasma (and really can't) thus it has only a cooling system to protect it from damage.

[@kraftrad7840]

@@SuperUltimateLP of course it's done by steam. But where has the water contact to plasma?

[@SuperUltimateLP]

@@kraftrad7840 the plasma is hot enough to heat the walls of the reaction chamber, in there is the steam generation done.

[@kraftrad7840]

@@SuperUltimateLP aren't there the magnets in between?

[@pepe6666]

id like to see a collaboration between this channel and pbs spacetime.

[@JesusHChrist2000]

Why no Helium 3 fusion?

[@mntbighker]

Yeah, I wondered that myself. I thought this was desirable if we can get the Helium 3 that is plentiful on the moon, but scarce here?

[@HWKier]

Very well presented. My only criticism is that contrary to what you say, you can't "make" energy. You convert mass energy to kinetic energy.

[@seymoronion8371]

We shall see

[@markgigiel2722]

Holy crap. How high is the electric bill for that campus? 2 Megawatts is only 3 or 4 percent of the total. My house just uses a couple of Kilowatts on average.

[@geostacey8330]

Thanks Great lecture

[@turtle752436]

if I may and I probably have seen this clip, but maybe I don't remember if my question was answered. And since we are getting close to starting one up, its all fine and dandy and lots of energy and pats on the back all around. But. How do you stop it after it started? So its high temperature, higher than the sun to make up for the reduced pressure that we have here (coz the sun has more pressure so it can do it with less temperature), so we got all that and we got the magnetic containment field, all good and its starts working on its own after sparking it. Remembering only too well the intricacies of the mess of Chernobyl and how they turned that switch off when it should be on, or they should have added more of this or that instead of reducing this or that. I wonder. Do we know how to stop a fusion reactor? I.e. how to turn it off. What if we stretch the limits of heat and pressure to make it work but somehow for some strange reason, once it gets going , it "paradoxically" needs a higher temperature or pressure to stop, instead of reducing them, for example. So wouldn't it be wise, and I hope they thought of that in general, not to operate things at the limit, coz you never know what a little bit more might do? Like a reserve. Its generally good practice. Not to operate at max.

[@adambrady9989]

Homer Simpsons ears perked up when you said "DONUT" .

[@pepe6666]

dude! that shot from the inside. fwoah.