China has developed an Artificial Sun

China has developed a Tokamak.

I searched the site and didn't find anything about this technology. i was wondering if anybody here could elaborate on the tech and its role in the future. Is this truly endless energy? The article state that only 4 countries have built one Russia, France, Japan, and China. Yet Princeton (US) has developed one aswell. Is this Chinese media propaganda or is the US truly behind in this technology?
The links are below. The purpose of this thread is:

if I can get some enlightenment on the Tokamak, and is this a crucial technology for future energy production.

Thanks Everybody

news.xinhuanet.com...



ippex.pppl.gov...

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Last time I checked the US was amoung the leaders in Tokamak technology. I don't believe there is a clear leader as of yet as there isn't a commercial version yet available. If there were we wouldn't have to worry about energy as much. And yes it is essentially nearly limitless as it uses the most abundant element in the universe Hydrogen to power the reaction. Helium-3 would be even better but we are still a century away from such technology.

France won the contract to build ITER which is an international project involving just about every major nation on the planet except China(correct me if I'm wrong on that one as I'm not 100 percent certain), so China is probably gonna try to build one herself .... I doubt they will succeed though as the technology is very complex and touchy. Something like this requires a multi-national effort for non-US countries. The USA could probably build a working Fusion Reactor by themselves though it would take longer on their own thus ITER.

www.iter.org...

Thanks Sardiom2000

Thanks for the info, and for the link. the level if investment and research is impressive!

Just a slight correction. China IS part of ITER.

Typically, one should be extremely skeptical of anything the Chinese say they have invented. Whenever I do literature searches for papers, I never read a paper that's a product of China - they publish anything, no matter how ridiculous it is.

I think the most sophisticated thing to come out of China in the last 50 years were my shoes.

Originally posted by sardion2000
Helium-3 would be even better but we are still a century away from such technology.

I read an article the other day that said that Russia plans on going to the moon around 2015...and around 2020, the plan on minning the Helium-3.

lol just what we need, infinite energy. but do you really know what goes on in something like this. first off we need whats called a fusion reaction. (yes, fusion, forces two ions together.) this is definitily something we dont need to be messing with. for a fusion reaction to take place we need to go back to the basics of the atom bomb and use a fission reaction to obtain the needed amount of heat and pressure to be able to force two hydrogen ions together. This reaction has such a ridiculous amount of energy to it we defintily dont need to be messing around with it. dont get me wrong great idea. but with something with the equivilent energy as a star. BOOOOOOM. one mess up and thats that.

Originally posted by Murcielago

Originally posted by sardion2000
Helium-3 would be even better but we are still a century away from such technology.

I read an article the other day that said that Russia plans on going to the moon around 2015...and around 2020, the plan on minning the Helium-3.

Mining and Using are two completely different things. The startup temps are 4 times that of H2 fusion reactors and we don't really have the materials capable of withstanding that kind of temps as of yet. It will require a whole new generation of heat resistant materials to utilize effectively.

lol just what we need, infinite energy.

Would you rather we keep using Oil, Gas,Coal and Uranium for our power supply

but do you really know what goes on in something like this.

Umm do you? Obviously you dont.

BOOOOOOM. one mess up and thats that.

Wrong. Magnetic Fields are used to start the fusion process and if something should go wrong with the containment fields the plasma will come into contact with the matter of the containment torus and it will immediatly cool down stopping the reaction.

Fusion bombs and Fusion reactors are as dissimiliar as Fission Bombs and Fission Reactors.

hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu...

Please do some research before you propogate myths please.

en.wikipedia.org...

The likelihood of a catastrophic accident in a fusion reactor in which injury or loss of life occurs is much smaller than that of a fission reactor. The primary reason is that the fuel contained in the reaction chamber is only enough to sustain the reaction for about a minute, whereas a fission reactor contains about a year's supply of fuel. Furthermore, fusion requires very extreme and precisely controlled conditions of temperature, pressure and magnetic field parameters. If the reactor were damaged, these would be disrupted and the reaction would be rapidly quenched.

The fact is Fusion is much much safer then Fisson is or ever will be.

[edit on 30-1-2006 by sardion2000]

[edit on 30-1-2006 by sardion2000]

[edit on 30-1-2006 by sardion2000]

Originally posted by sardion2000

I doubt there will be a material within the next 500 years that can withstand the temperatures of such hot gases. Currently (for the Tokamaka), magnets are used to contain the hot gases and the fusion reaction is not triggered by magnetic fields (that is how the plasma is contained), particle beams and high radio frequencies are used in place of fission. I think you are referring to another such reactor or maybe a new Tokamaka?

Originally posted by Ralph_The_Wonder_Llama
I think the most sophisticated thing to come out of China in the last 50 years were my shoes.

Why not add computer parts, mobos, printers, harddrives, etc, etc. or how bout gunpowder, compass.. List keeps going on and on.. I am sure just a few of these i mention are more impressive than your shoe.

Originally posted by Frosty

Originally posted by sardion2000

Currently (for the Tokamaka), magnets are used to contain the hot gases and the fusion reaction is not triggered by magnetic fields (that is how the plasma is contained), particle beams and high radio frequencies are used in place of fission. I think you are referring to another such reactor or maybe a new Tokamaka?

No you're right, I was wrong on that. I stand corrected. Had a brain fart.

As for the 500 years remark, considering how fast Material science is evolving as of late I wouldn't be surprised if we had the prerequisite material in 50 years and another 50 years to make it all work. Of course both 100 years and 500 years are just arbitrary numbers we both made up and only time will tell.

[edit on 30-1-2006 by sardion2000]

Originally posted by LaoTzu

Originally posted by Ralph_The_Wonder_Llama
I think the most sophisticated thing to come out of China in the last 50 years were my shoes.

Why not add computer parts, mobos, printers, harddrives, etc, etc. or how bout gunpowder, compass.. List keeps going on and on.. I am sure just a few of these i mention are more impressive than your shoe.

My shoes actually have computer parts, mobos, printers, harddrives, gunpowder, and compasses built in. Quite sophisticated, really.