Desktop Fusion
Or, a reactor in every pot.
Well, maybe not quite, but at least they’re getting closer, according to this article at Purdue University News on-line. Researchers at Purdue University have recently established supporting evidence that earlier findings by other scientists, who designed an inexpensive “tabletop” device that uses sound waves to produce nuclear fusion reactions, are, in fact valid. They’ve been working on this for over two years and have finally reproduced good results with their small, deuterium-powered reactor.
According to the article, “development of a low-cost thermonuclear fusion generator would offer the potential for a new, relatively safe and low-polluting energy source. … A cubic kilometer of seawater would contain enough heavy hydrogen to provide a thousand years’ worth of power for the United States. Such a technology also could result in a new class of low-cost, compact detectors for security applications that use neutrons to probe the contents of suitcases; devices for research that use neutrons to analyze the molecular structures of materials; machines that cheaply manufacture new synthetic materials and efficiently produce tritium, which is used for numerous applications ranging from medical imaging to watch dials; and a new technique to study various phenomena in cosmology, including the workings of neutron stars and black holes.”
Wow. I guess all those science-fiction writers were closer to reality than we ever thought, eh? I wonder how long it will be before we have transporters or “stepping disks” ala Larry Niven?
