fusor
Sign in to savethumb|A homemade fusor A fusor is a device that uses an electric field to heat ions to a temperature at which they undergo nuclear fusion. The machine induces a potential difference between two metal cages, inside a vacuum. Positive ions fall down this voltage drop, building up speed. If they collide in the center, they can fuse. This is one kind of an inertial electrostatic confinement device – a branch of fusion research.
Article
27 sectionsContents
- Mechanism
- Underlying physics
- Fusor concept
- Losses
- History
- Design
- Work at Farnsworth Television labs
- Recent developments
- Fusion in fusors
- Basic fusion
- Net power
- In fusors
- Common considerations
- Modes of operation
- Power density
- Thermalization of the ion velocities
- Electrodes
- Radiation
- Safety
- Commercial applications
- Neutron source
- Medical isotopes
- Patents
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|A homemade fusor A fusor is a device that uses an electric field to heat ions to a temperature at which they undergo nuclear fusion. The machine induces a potential difference between two metal cages, inside a vacuum. Positive ions fall down this voltage drop, building up speed. If they collide in the center, they can fuse. This is one kind of an inertial electrostatic confinement device – a branch of fusion research.
A Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor is the most common type of fusor. This design came from work by Philo T. Farnsworth in 1964 and Robert L. Hirsch in 1967. A variant type of fusor had been proposed previously by William Elmore, James L. Tuck, and Ken Watson at the Los Alamos National Laboratory though they never built the machine.