the "artifical sun" made by china

Mazepa said:

I get the feeling that there is a strange attitude among westerners that they have a superiority when it comes to science. Why would not the Chinese be able to master new innovation before Europe and USA? For us to not realise that the innovative future is also in China is to close our eyes for the truth.

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May i also add that most of the innovations and inventions in this modern world come from china, until westerner progressed further then the chinese in the later 18 century. i don't see why the chinese can't continue on progressing more further then the rest of the world since they are now have the capacity to do so.

why not make china the POST modern society???

Mig, there are no military application to this project, hence why there is such a diverse group of nations cooperating. How many other times will you see a Japanese team leader overseeing high tech Chinese research? It was originally conceived during the cold war, and one of the reasons was because has neither immediate commercial value nor defense implications; ITER was an ideal topic for east-west collaboration near the end of the cold war in 1985.
So really yes, this topic should be moved out of the military forum.

Guy's don’t get me wrong I was not saying Chinese science is bad, far from it. Yes in many things the "west" is still ahead of China, but this was not why I was saying China could not have made this break through. I was saying as technology stands NO country could have made this break through. Many scientists think that the ITER project will fail because the technology is not mature enough; some prominent physicists still think it is 50 years too soon.
I am sure China will take a leading role in technology over the next 100 years, 1/5 of the world population lives here, it makes sense that you should contribute 1/5 of the worlds economy and science, but it makes sense that the rest of the world should contribute the other 4/5th.Things are changing in China very fast, BUT in a lot of things although you are catching up China is still behind the west and conversely in some things it is ahead.

Well guy, why is only a technology breakthought seen as important.
An technology advance is just as important, is a process for the technology to mature.

The more new of advancement, mean the closer we have a reator working.

MIGleader said:

any chance the military could use any of the plasma generated by this machine?

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I'll take a stab at this and say 'no chance'. I don't think the plasma can be 'bottled up', moved around or used for anything outside the reactor.

So why is this still in the military discussion forum?

I wish the Chinese all the luck with their research. There is no doubt that we will soon be seeing them here in Stockholm to recieve Nobel-prices for their achievements.

I'll take a stab at this and say 'no chance'. I don't think the plasma can be 'bottled up', moved around or used for anything outside the reactor.

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Yes I agree but, if they can use it in the reactor it more then enough. It already be a great achievement. But we still some time off till dat happen.

Nice post, Duskylim. It's clear you know more about this than most, so your contribution is much apreciated.

There is alot of infesiability to the whole artifical Sun process. The Sun is as big as it is because it requires alot of energy to function, along with the aformentioned gravitational and pressure problems as expressed by Dusky. The technical aspects of making an artifical sun are curently too far beyond what man can acomplish, be it a Russian, Chinese or American man (or woman!). Even if the technical aspects could be overcome, there is alot of risk involved in the project.

From what Dusky said, it looks like a run of the mill thermonuclear generator, lest I get something mistaken. That said, it is still a major acomplishment for the chinese.

Forgive me if I make a mistake, I dont know very much about Nuclear Physics, but this has inspired me to learn some more about it.

Um, have any of you actually look at the first post. It was never said that China created a fusion reaction, only passed an engine test. In fact, EAST is only an experimental platform not intended to produce plasma like that needed to acquire energy.

It's good to see China developing this type of reactor. I hope they can get one working as soon as possible.

The earlier we abandon coal power the better. Those coal plants are generating lots of smog which is very bad for health plus every few weeks some Chinese coal miners get killed from mine blasts etc. it's a real shame

Dear Sirs,

The point that must be stressed here is that all these experiments, are TEST and RESEARCH reactors, and NOT POWER reactors. That is, they do NOT produce useful amounts of power (thermal or electrical). That is the long term goal of all this endeavor. It is hoped that ITER will ultimately show the way towards a self-sustaining fusion reaction via the method of magnetic confinement.

Another method that has been explored (particularly by the Americans) is the so-called "inertial confinement". In this system deuterium and tritium are placed inside tiny glass spheres which are struck by powerful lasers (like the Scylla experiment). The sphere "implodes" violently (like a minature hydrogen bomb) and (hopefully!) fusion reactions occur.

Will this experiment lead to better nuclear weapons? Well what is being explored here is low-pressure plasma (ionized gas) fusion. In a multi-stage nuclear weapon, most of the material is in solid form and the reaction takes place at incredible pressures and densities. That is essential so that you get the most bang for the buck, and the most compact weapon possible. So the short answer is probably not, as there is very little in common (with the exception of the fusion reactions themselves) between the two devices.

For those who would like a primer on nuclear weapons, you should go the the High-Energy Weapons archive on the net.

Best Regards,

Dusky Lim