this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
221 points (90.5% liked)

Science Memes

11004 readers
3181 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Haven't we already confirmed ignition and just entered the "how do we sustain this at scale?" phase of the development?

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So the thing you've heard about wasn't the first "ignition" (almost certainly the wrong word, it's not a flame) it was just the first fusion reaction that output more energy than was directly input. This is confusing to readers because there was actually a ton more energy required, but the lasers that directly impacted the material had less energy than was released, but total energy needed was much higher than was created. Also, that test was, as far as I'm aware, more suitable for a weapon style design, not a reactors that can sustain itself and create electricity. It was basically a capsule shot by a bunch of lasers, not in a reactor.

[–] Mo5560@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

Haven't we already confirmed ignition?

Not that I know of. You can obviously just neglect most energy costs when considering "ignition" and the proclaim you've achieved ignition. These may legitimately be significant advances but it doesn't mean we're ready to start thinking about actually sustaining fusion energy at scale.