Fusion breakthrough?

Perusing the science pages as I am wont to do, I came across this little snippet about a Reversed Field Pinch experiment that produced an interesting result.

A discovery made in the RFX-mod Reversed Field Pinch (RFP) fusion device demonstrated that if one keeps on increasing the current, above 1.5 million amperes, the helix becomes very smooth, the trapping of the plasma in the magnetic fields improves and the plasma gets hotter. Moreover, the helical state appears to be the preferred one at high current and is spontaneously chosen, or self-organized, by the plasma. RFX is a large RFP device (ten cubic meter plasma) located in Padova, Italy.

One of the traditional problems with fusion containment in general is that it becomes 'disorganised' past a certain point. The exciting thing about this piece of news is that the Plasma can be made to self organise into a helix, reducing containment issues.

If true, this could be a radical step forward towards the goal of Fusion power. Self organising plasma, who'd have thought?

What would happen......

Just idle musing you understand; but I wonder what would happen if you built eight, (or six, or four) Tokamak type devices and arranged them standing on their sides in a circle, with one side of each donut shaped device cut so that the plasma torus developed within each devices circular magnetic field intersected in a central magnetic 'pinch' chamber. Like in the two diagrams below.

Given that if the right conditions are created, Nuclear Fusion can and has been achieved within Tokamak type devices, but not enough to match the power input; if the plasma contained within each of the six toroids of plasma was run up to near fusion temperatures, by running six plasma streams together at a central point in a open ended 'pinch' type magnetic containment chamber, would that create conditions of heat and pressure sufficient within said magnetic 'pinch' chamber to induce a near-continuous Nuclear Fusion reaction without quite such a massive amount of initial energy input as ITER or other similar projects?

Supposing that the right hydrogen / deuterium fuel mix is injected into the eight (or six, or four) plasma toroids the rest is down to creating the conditions where such a reaction will make place. Heat, pressure, velocity, and leave the rest to the laws of Physics.

Of course my idea could be complete rubbish, but given what I've read recently, it sounds just as likely than some of the other concepts I've read about. In the words of Lewis Carrol's White Queen "If you can believe six impossible things before breakfast."

Back to Manuscript revision.

The Cloud Mystery

I don't know about anyone else, but I find a lot of synergy with this clip;

I think Henrik Svensmark's theory has legs because it does show a link between cloud formation and cosmic rays which has been public since Wilson's work on cloud formation in the early 1900's. I find myself agreeing with most of the content for the following reasons;

1. The 'greenhouse effect' of water vapour makes the minimal effect of CO2 look positively ineffectual.
2. The Sun is a variable star and is apparently heading into a prolonged minima.
3. Svensmark is experimentally demonstrating his postulation, not just using speculative computer models and 'adjusted' data which do not accurately reflect reality.
   

Interesting stuff. Certainly more credible than the CO2 lobby's "We can't think of anything else it might be".

Anarchists, an observation

Have been following the news from G20 in London with a wry twist of my mouth.

Two main observations;

First upon the protests;
Is it my imagination or was there a bigger press pack then there are protestors? There seemed to be a small (50 or so, no more) bunch or rioters and another 4000 'others' which I believe ran the political gamut from left to right with another 1000 or so hangers on and the addition of several hundred reporters of one sort or another.

Second upon the venue;
Why central London? You could just as well have used a better venue with a more easily secured perimeter. Helicopter the delegates out from their various pads for the beano at the more easily secured venue, and back again when they were replete with fatted calf and taxpayers dollars etc. Job done.

Secondary observation;
The soi-disant 'Anarchists' wouldn't last five seconds in a real world 'Anarchy'. People like me would have seen them coming and shot the bastards, or they would have crossed one of the more forceful members of the 'business' community and ended up doing something useful for once in their wastrel lives, like feeding hungry animals. I used to know a few self styled 'Anarchists' many years ago, and all of them were pretty sad and not terribly bright specimens of humanity.

No matter; life over here goes on, and I have work to do.

Day at home

Worked up until ten last night, and find this morning that I've done everything I should. No meetings to attend today, and I'm told that town (Nanaimo) is a bit chaotic right now with last nights snowfall.

Wife is road testing new all weather tyres on the van and just phoned home to let me know that she got to work safely. Dog and I have been for a walk in the three or so inches of snow lying on the ground. I've read the online papers, had breakfast but right now I'm not in the mood for anything serious.

Outside, the Narrows are a steely blue and the trees and hedges lumpy whiteness. No more snow is falling.

Snow falling on Cedars

The sound of snow falling on Cedars makes is a crackling, pattering sound like rain on high voltage lines, but less harsh and with a pattering as the flakes dust down onto the fragile leaf litter from last fall. That is what I learned today. It has a calming effect.

Busy day. Finally got my correspondence and notes organised. Which as Wife might be heard to remark; "Blood and sand Jones?! You, organised?" Such is life.

There's fish out there

Walking Dog this morning, I cast my eyes down to the waterfront at the choppy tidal vortex that forms every high tide half way down Dodd Narrows opposite Mudge Island. Flecks of white scum, like petals, floated in five or six metre long stringy slicks up the channel. The shallows were a particular shade of turquoise.

Could all be a trick of the light of course, but conditions do seem to mimic the early stages of last years Herring run. May be worth getting my fishing kit out.

Old tech, but good tech

Steve Winwood always was a genius with that old electric piano. Two of my all-time favourite songs, 'Valerie' and 'While you still see a chance' . Utter, unadulterated brilliance.

Other times, other places

This afternoon, after progress chasing a couple of things, I visited a blog I used to write for when Ilived and worked in the UK. Although there have been no new entries for the last year, it still receives over sixty specific visits minimum, per day. Go figure, as they say.

Mind you, I did used to spend over three hours a day on it in addition to the day job which inspired the blog. This blog, by way of a contrast, gets less than half an hour a day on average. The thing both blogs have in common is that they are simply brain dumps of my febrile ravings.

Am also getting mildly teed off with the pop up adverts that say "Barack Obama / Stephen Harper / Paris Hilton's IQ is 120+; how about you?" For the record; my IQ was once 'officially' measured at 147. More generally my usual spatial / language / mathematical object handling ability runs around the 136 marker. Reading rate measured at 1250-1700 words per minute with 70% recall. That and a memory which Elephants can be heard commenting on as follows "Watch what you say around that Jones character - he remembers every word". Which often makes me ask the question; "If I'm so smart, why ain't I rich?" Which I am not very (Although definitely not poor). Yet I would concede that most of my own lack of millionaire status boils down to a lack of confidence. Ergo, one is drawn to the conclusion that when it comes to smarts, IQ is not the only measure.

Back to work.

Volcano Alerts

Having a look at the current status of volcanoes around the world, and found this handy page.
Chaiten in Chile is erupting away at Red or level 5 status
Redoubt in Alaska, not so far from the currently quiescent Mt Kasatochi to the West that blew it's top in 2008, is at watch alert Orange (Eruption due soon)

Other, less newsworthy eruptions are as follows.
Galeras 01.22N 077.37W COLOMBIA LEVEL III E
Karangetang 02.78N 125.40E SANGIHE IS. ALERT LEVEL 3 E
Soufriere Hills 16.72N 062.18W WEST INDIES LEVEL 4 E
Yasur 19.53S 169.44E SO. PACIFIC ALERT LEVEL 3 E

A quick google at about 3pm PST turned up nothing in the English language media for the Galeras and Yasur eruptions (Well it has been erupting almost continually for the last 800 years), and nothing at all for Karangetang.

Hmm. will be adding geology.com to the sidebar as well.

We're all doooomed (Not) again

Forgive my scepticism, but that's becoming more and more of a conditioned reflex. If it's not one thing it's another. Was pootling around my reading list and had a look at Anthony Watts blog, which carried the following headline:“The good news is, if this sucker blows, global warming is not going to be a problem.“ About news items regarding the recent swarms of earthquakes in the Yellowstone Caldera. Previous observations in 2004 indicate that a similar bout of Earthquake 'swarms' were due to the movement of Hydrothermal fluids rather than Magma. Doomsday looks like being postponed again. Ain't that a bitch?

I seem to recall a Horizon 'Documentary' on the BBC back in 2000 which gave you the impression that Armageddon was but a heartbeat distant. Had the programme makers faithfully reported what the USGS researchers at Yellowstone were saying they would have gotten a slightly less than sensational story; but the headline 'World might end one day - but not just yet eh?' might not be conducive to increased viewing figures. Just like that other load of complete and utter garbage 'An inconvenient truth'. The Western world passed the edge of an all time gullibility event horizon with that pile of deeply flawed crap. You can tell I wasn't impressed with the movie or its 'science' can't you?

What is it with all these 'the world is going to end' scenarios? There is so much good stuff going on out there in life that we have to ill wish and frighten ourselves into misery just for a change? Like teenagers going to watch schlocky horror movies. This is the part of the human condition I've never been able to fully comprehend; so many people would rather believe a thousand over sensationalised negative fictions rather than one rather mundane positive fact. 'Millions of people no longer starving'; 'Living standards better than twenty years ago'; 'Fewer than ever not dying of infectious diseases'. Maybe the people who regurgitate negative nonsense just want to make themselves look important. In the words of the old Cole Porter song;

Have you heard,
It's in the Stars,
Next July we collide with Mars

Stuff it; I have other things to do, and a nice large measure of Malt Whiskey beckons. Time to feed Wife a sizeable Vodka and Orange. She's earned it for putting up with an old grouch like me.

Alternate beginnings and endings

Have been trying a new tack with the "Sky full of stars" Sci-Fi MSS. In order for the backstory to work more smoothly with the rest of the narrative I've changed the beginning, adding a four thousand word section that makes for a more dramatic opening. At the other end, I've found myself writing another section to wrap up all the loose story threads yet leave scope for a follow up.

Haven't decided whether to kill the hero off or not. Rather like one of those eighties soap operas where characters come back from the dead to satisfy audience demand. Well I haven't really got an audience yet, but I live in hope. Upbeat or downbeat ending? Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Laws of nature

Arthur C Clarke, Science Fiction Writer and man credited with the idea of Orbiting communications satellites once laid down three laws of prediction;
1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

I was browsing through Wikipaedia this evening and found out about a gentleman named Dr Paul Ehrlich. Some of his predictions may be of interest. I make no other comment apart from how wrong can a man be? Looks like Clarke's first law of prediction is in serious need of revision.

If asked, I would amend Clarke's first law to read; When a distinguished scientist states that mankind is somehow doomed, he is almost certainly wrong. When he states that humans might muddle through somehow, he is very probably right. The other two of Clarkes laws appear not to need such amendment.

Global cooling?

Quiet start to the New Year, with much to do come Monday morning.

Am getting increasingly peeved with the "Global Warming Denier" tag, although there is an element of perverse pride in being identified as one not taken in by the whole alarmist nonsense. Notwithstanding, I'm not one of the "coming ice age" faction either, although the Weather phenomena would suggest that we are in one of those cooler cyclic climate events. To be honest, there's so much delusion, obfuscation and downright dishonesty going on that it's hard to know what the damn truth of the matter is anyway.

Being a cynical soul, I try not to 'believe' in much at all when it comes to the climate. Cooling or Warming, it's all the same, and that humankind has precious little to do with the global climate, the main drivers of which appear to be Solar activity, volcanism, the water cycle, and electromagnetic variations. To suggest that an atmospheric trace gas currently measured around 385 parts per million is responsible for it all sounds very shaky from even my limited layman's perspective. Especially when the estimated total human contribution of this gas is a mere 19.25 parts per million. By comparison, there's much more Argon in the atmosphere, just under three times more. CO2, I would say, is the least of our worries. As it gets cooler, if my reading of physics is right, then we should see Atmospheric CO2 levels begin to drop in the next few years as the oceans cool.

My concerns regarding current weather trends are being raised by the number of incidences of ice crystal related phenomena being observed around the world; Nacreous clouds, icebows, and various other ice crystal refracted phenomena. Norwegian observers I am reliably informed, are seeing far more Nacreous cloud formations this year, and Icebows have been reported in the national and international media quite late in the year. Using the simple logic that says "Ice crystals are evidence of cooling" I tend to be swayed more towards the viewpoint that we are currently in a cooling phase of the Earth's climate cycles. Although I fervently hope we are not in for a Dalton type minimum. That would be worse than everything the doomsayers predict.

Those who still deny that these cooler weather phenomena truly exist really need to step away from the keyboard and get out a bit more. Rather like those observed trudging along in the snow holding banners reading 'stop global warming'. The past two years have been cooler than usual, and rather give the lie to the 'Man is responsible' standpoint. They cling to inaccurate assertions like CO2 rise leads temperature change (Which it doesn't), and think that applying political logic in a scientific debate will change the weather (It won't). In addition they seem to be suffering from the delusional belief that Man as a species has much significance when it comes to the weather (We don't).

Anyway, no-one's going to read this. Humans as a species don't like logic much. Fantasy appears far more preferable. That's what it looks like to me.

Slow day

Spectacular view this morning. Fog and low cloud on the other side of Mudge Island positively glowed like a Turner seascape in the morning light.

Our roads are now a lot safer to drive. The snowplough, (Or in our case a Road Grader) a curious looking contraption with a hydraulically controlled ram blade slung under the cab, came through last night and cleared off most of the compacted slush and ice that made driving so tricky yesterday afternoon. Well done City Hall. It was getting too tricky out there.

Today we've stayed in and hunkered down. Wife to catch up with her reading, and me to pursue my literary ambitions and occasionally delve into 'Sarum'.

I see Christopher Booker in the UK Daily Telegraph has claimed that the Anthopogenic theory of Global Warming has been disproved in 2008. Personally I think it was disproved by the complete failure of all the apocalyptic doomsayers predictions to even begin coming true by 2005. Someone should let the warmista's know that theories need observable proofs, which the theory of Man made CO2 driven climate change has been conspicuously lacking in. Well, apart from unfounded scare stories and a lot of fudged statistics. Yet even now there are those with demonstrable evidence of non man made climate shifts, still choose to believe that humankind has any significant effect on the globalclimate. Obviously the salutory tale of the 'Emperors new clothes' is no longer taught in elementary schools any more.

Now, climatewise at least, we are in the midst of a Solar Minima and cool phase of the Pacific and Atlantic Decadal Oscillations. Things will get quite chilly for the next few years, and it may be worth considering moving further south. New Mexico maybe. Although there have been news items about Florida suffering from snow and ice recently. There goes the price of Orange Juice. Fortunately the latest weather news suggests it's got warmer down there again. Just goes to show that it isn't a warmer climate we should be worrying about.

Back to the grindstone tomorrow. I have calls to make and e-mails to shoot off.

I see Longrider has dropped off the blogging map. Looks like a domain ownership issue, so I'll wait a week or so before editing him off the sidebar. Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose.

Thaw

We are undergoing a very welcome thaw at present. Unfortunately, thaws pose their own hazards. Packed snow and slush turns to ridges of hard packed ice that renders useless all your petty attempts at steering in a straight line. The first kilometre out from home at present is a real queen bitch to drive. After that the middle of the road is mostly clear and makes for easy driving. When the thaw finally reaches our little enclave I will be a very happy bunny.

In the woods the underbrush is surfacing as the tide of crystalline white recedes. For days the only tracks into the woodland have been those of Dog and myself. Only the Deer have ventured under the laden canopy of branches. When the paths are clear I might even venture down to the beach to see what else has arrived.

Well, that's my first White Christmas since the 1960's and as far as I'm concerned you can keep it. White Christmases are for kids.

Walk in a white forest

Have just returned with Dog from a short foray into the local woodland. Judging from the tracks, the only other creatures to visit our area were a couple of the local Deer population and one of the local canines. No human has walked these paths since the first snow. Even the Raccoons and Jackrabbits are hunkered down.

Once you get amongst the trees what hits you first is the silence. Barely a whisper so that you can literally hear snow and ice drifting down from the trees and hitting the ground. Your own breathing sounds stentorious and a moments pause can enable the rushing of blood through your body to be quite audible. Then the lapping of water from down in Dodd Narrows becomes too loud as your hearing adjusts to the overall lack of noise. The odd warning creak from cold strained timber cautions against making too much noise. A functioning Heat Pump on a house a hundred metres away is unwelcome, industrial. The slightest sound is amplified tenfold. Compared to this, a Library would be a cacophony, a wall of intrusive sound.

Trees bow under their coating of light powdery snow, moving slightly in a timorous breeze, and everywhere the brilliant whiteness carpeting the forest floor and half coating every single branch and tree trunk in sight. Down below, the water is a pastel mid blue grey ruffled by the sub zero breeze. All else is shadows in the white, camouflaged by the cold into indistinctness.

After a couple of minutes your unprotected skin begins to prickle, and even a heavy overcoat seems to be full of holes through which pinpricks of cold seem to find their way. Anywhere in your clothing where there is an imperfect seal, heat leaches out, letting the cold air nick you with it's sharpness.

Yet this is not the cold I am used to, it does not drag the heat from your bones and sap your will. This cold whips at you like a million small goads, driving you on; home to your welcoming little island of warmth in the midst of the whiteness; home to the comforts of hot drinks and blessed blood heat. This cold sends you home.

Today is cold. Perhaps not Albertan cold, but cold enough for this poor mortals blood. Wife has just told me that the radio reports say it has begun snowing in Harewood. The next pale layering will be with us soon.

Jones' theory of cock up

I would like to introduce a law that should help make life more readily comprehensible. Feel that the world is against you? Feel oppressed? Maligned? Unfairly treated? Want to know why?

Postulation:
Here are the answers. Jones's three laws of human existence, which are:

1) No person or procedure is infallible.
2) No matter how highly intelligent / educated, no human has their brain switched on at all times.
3) Humanity is governed by the universal law of cock up.

Abstract:
1) Institutions and Governments are made up of people.
2) All people are fallible.
3) All procedures are created by people.

Therefore all Governments and procedures, without exception, are fallible, and subject without exception to the laws of cock up.

Observational proofs:
1) You may fill in the form 'correctly', but you cannot guarantee that it will be read correctly by the recipient, even if the right form reached the correct person in good time.
2) Everyone, even the most intelligent and 'caring', has off days, hangovers, emotional upsets etc which cloud their judgement and make them as friendly as a deranged rattlesnake with a psychotic fetish for ankle biting.
3) Under sufficient negative personal pressure, all people default to negative emotions (Unless the drugs are still working).
4) Even the best happy pills stop working sometimes.
5) They may be out to get you, but the odds are that 'they' will screw up somewhere along the way.
6) The more complex the plan, the greater the likelihood that it will fail spectacularly.
7) The shriller the claims to the contrary, the greater the likelihood of abject failure.
8) 90% of humanity does not use anywhere near 10% of their brain capacity, and the other 10% has 90% less brain capacity than the other 90%.

These rules apply specifically to the UK, although experimenters /researchers in other countries are currently subjecting the above rules to high level axiom destruction procedures.

A small excerpt

Thank you to those who were kind enough to take note of my febrile mental meanderings about Nuclear Fusion. Here is the passage from my MSS 'a sky full of stars' giving a brief laymans description how I concieve a Nuclear Fusion reactor might be made to work.

Inside the fusion reactor behind their compartment, multiple toroids of plasma formed, began to spin, merge, then intersected and with a sudden roaring crackle burst into a star hot fusion reaction. Electrostatic grids bled off the energy into hungry batteries and uncharged coils, power greedy drives sucking at the immediate abundance of energy, ready to push the forty metre long octagonal cylinder into a higher orbit.

It's just a rough idea of course, but what I conceive is rather like having a Farnsworth type central chamber with a number of accelerator, or Tokamak style coils feeding 'streams' of accelerated plasma into and out of it.

The mathematics of such a device are beyond me, since I am just a wannabe Science Fiction writer with several MSS currently sitting in a number of publishers 'slush piles' awaiting reading. Sometimes in my gloomier moments I wonder if they have not already been put in file 13.

Idle fusing musing

I've been watching the progress of the polywell type reactor with a great deal of interest. The first results appear encouraging, and although Nuclear Fusion was not obtained, they have been able to generate plasma.

Now I’m no nuclear Engineer, but I’ve been fascinated by the results obtained by Dr Richard Nebel and his team with the WB-7 fusion device. Whilst only having a rough understanding of Nuclear Fusion, I find myself wondering thus; what would happed if you took several small Tokamak type devices and arranged them so that several plasma toroids intersected at the same point in a polywell type containment chamber. Rather like in the Polywell, but with better control of the plasma flows. Kind of a cross between the Tokamak and Polywell Fusion concepts.

If anyone can be bothered to read this; and you understand I may be way off beam here, as I understand it the Tokamak design accelerates a plasma toroid within a magnetic containment field, firing high energy lasers into the toroid to achieve Fusion. The Polywell design tries to bring several plasma streams together at a single point to achieve Nuclear Fusion. Both methods are close, but so far, the only man made Nuclear Fusion has been achieved in a Thermonuclear Detonation where a Fission device is used to trigger a Fusion reaction.

I may just be showing my complete and utter ignorance of the subject, but if a Tokamak can achieve plasma containment, rotating a plasma toroid at high speed, and a Polywell can obtain plasma at a point but seems to suffer from poor containment; say you have a Tokamak type coil array which can guide plasma in a stable (ish) toroid; if you arrange four or six Tokamak type coil arrays mounted in a circular pattern which have a third of the plasma path open into a using Polywell type vacuum containment chamber. The idea being to make all six plasma toroids intersect around a central point in the containment chamber at high speed with enough cumulative energy to begin a Nuclear Fusion reaction. Maybe three should be contra rotating to converge the Hydrogen ion plasma streams together at close to light speed whilst keeping the start up energy cost down. 'Fuel' in the form of Hydrogen / Boron / Tritium / Deuterium etc could be injected from the coils rather than directly into the containment chamber.

Again, I may be talking through my figurative hat, but my training and my job are partly about thinking outside the box and I also write Science Fiction. Am I on to something here, or are there factors I’m not aware of that would militate against such a solution?

I've envisaged just such a power plant as the Fusion Generator which powers the first Earth built generation of Faster Than Light Omega spacecraft in my MSS 'A sky full of stars'. May all be complete cobblers of course, but it's good enough for fiction.

Good news if that Gas prices on the Island have dipped under ninety cents a litre (88.9 cents or about 48 UK pence a litre at current exchange rates). Hmm. Maybe some people can't afford to speculate in the market and artificially inflate the prices any more. Have also been amazed at the level of intellectual impoverishment that leads people to parade around in the snow carrying banners saying 'stop global warming now'. In the snow? What drugs are these people on? Bet if I wandered past a few of them I would catch the distinctive heavy sweet odour of Marijuana as I passed by. They don't call it 'dope' for nothing.